Pikmin: A Different Destiny
by Blind Kirby
Summary: This is an alternate reality of Olimar's first crash, what could've happened had events played out differently. If you bother reading, please review. Rated T just in case I go a bit overboard in later chapters.
1. Day 1: Impact

_"Explorers strive, but fate decides. You can prepare and practice for an expedition, but there's only so much a person can do... Sometimes you have to put your life in fate's hands. I've come to understand this intergalactic truth while I've traveled to the farthest reaches of the universe. Fate and I are pretty close." - Olimar_

_"Computers view the world in ones and zeros, but my people are different. Our world isn't simply black or white, right or wrong. Everybody is different." - Olimar._

**Pikmin: A Different Destiny**

**Day 1: Impact**

_A vacation... Finally..._

Olimar reclined in his chair and watched the stars whizz by the S.S. Dolphin. After three months of back-breaking labor... Finally a chance to kick back and relax.

The captain sat up and looked at the steering wheel. He always had a bad habit of working too hard and too much, and not taking enough time to rest (and not from a lack of wanting to at that). But finally, the president of Hocotate Freight had noticed that his best employee was weary of work. So, Olimar was given a very generous fifteen days off, and was promised that another employee would handle that very important Pikpik Carrot shipment.

His wife insisted that he spent his vacation relaxing, and not sitting at home sleeping. She pointed out that he was starting to get a bit overweight and pale, and the best way to prevent such things from getting worse would be to spend some times out doors doing something - anything really. News seemed to have traveled fast, and that very night Olimar was getting E-Mails left and right from all sorts of friends, filled with "must-see locations for any successful vacation!". Hours after blasting off, however, and Olimar still had no idea where he was going to go or what he was going to do. Rather, he was starting to consider turning around to return home.

Olimar wasn't exactly the family man of the year. Being an intergalactic delivery man has a way of cutting into one's personal life, and considering he was one of the best employees of the company, he rarely spent any time with his family. Recently, they were going to have a big party to celebrate a holiday, but at the last moment before it started Olimar had to work on something big that came up, missing out on all the fun again. He certainly tried to compensate by buying his family whatever they wanted, but there was no denying that his family was growing further away.

Fifteen days... He could certainly use some catch-up time... "Should I go back to Hocotate and spend this vacation with my family, or should I just keep going?" Olimar asked.

"I think you should just pick a destination. An hour has passed and you still have no idea where you're going. Other than that, I just don't care." The computer responded.

"Who's bright idea was it to program a computer with a sarcastic personality?"

"I don't know, but I bet he's related to that guy who asked a computer for family advice."

Olimar sighed and started tapping the steering wheel, lost again in his thoughts. Tap tap tap tap tap tap-

"Look, why don't you drink something?" The Dolphin interrupted. "How do you manage to stress out on a vacation? Just go, get something to calm your nerves, and take that nap you're always dreaming about. I can steer myself without constant supervision."

Olimar yawned. "Are you sure?"

"I'm a computer. I'm always sure. There aren't any asteroids around. Just hurry up and start resting."

Olimar stood up and walked out of the cockpit, and into the "kitchen". It was more a crammed room with some frozen food and a microwave, with a few other gadgets. Olimar opened a container. "Space Noodles. Awesome". The captain had just decided on the first stop on his vacation: getting actual food. He closed the container when the ship jolted violently and he was tossed against the wall  
and everything went black.

* * *

The first thing he noticed was that there was a bright light shining in his face. The second thing Olimar noticed was that he was no longer in his ship. Rather, he was on the surface of an alien planet he couldn't recognize, covered with vegetation. The captain carefully looked behind him, and winced at the sight of the shell of his beloved S.S. Dolphin. He dashed to his ship, to see what was missing.

Olimar sighed with relief. His engine, the most important piece, was still in his ship. There were still 29 parts missing, and to make matters worse, the atmosphere of this world was filled with oxygen. Olimar checked the battery life of his suit. "thirty days"...

The Hocotatian began pacing around his ship, trying to figure out a course of action. All he had was an engine and some Space Noodles, and even if he somehow found the other parts, he had no way to lift them back into his ship. What he going to do?

Looking on the bright side, Olimar decided that at least his vacation had doubled in length.

* * *

The command room of the Omega Onion was bustling with Pikmin. In a single night, thirty objects had struck the planet in a fairly condensed area, and as luck would have it, most of the onions in the area were elsewhere fighting a battle. A glowing yellow Pikmin with a bright flower was staring at a chart of the large area, with red dots over where the different objects had struck. The Pikmin forces were scrambling to figure out what these things were, and there were Pikmin of all colors running about, arguing, researching, organizing, and some even sleeping. Finally, two green Pikmin entered, one with a blue bud and one with a red one. They both had noses like red Pikmin. The yellow Pikmin turned to the new arrivals, and started speaking angrily, "This is perhaps the most urgent situation our generation has ever faced... And the two Pikmin I trust the most, along with a large supply of our onions are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!"

The blue-budded Pik pointed at his partner, who in turn responded, "Look sir, if you wanted us to just sit back and surrender the Violent Volcano to the Bulborbs, you should've just said so. But being that it's the largest supply of bomb-rocks we've ever found, I thought it would be worth defending. So we needed to get some extra force to fight them off. But hey, if you wanted them to have that firepower instead of us, I'm fine with that."

Their leader stared at them. "We've been studying these objects, and they appear to be intelligent in design. They seem to be pieces of a ship. You obviously know what this means?"

The blue-budded Pikmin got excited, "You mean the Outsider Theory!?"

"Exactly. That same reason we keep onions in every possible area. So that if we are ever visited, we could make sure to be the first to meet our guest and get them to help us... But now, we have NO ONIONS. Which means if the Bulborbs find our friend first..." The yellow one shuddered.

The red one spoke up, "So? What do you want us to do about it?"

"Rally your forces. I want every last non-Pikmin creature to be destroyed in those areas. We might have missed the first chance, but if we act fast enough we can still get him to help us. Go."

The two green Pikmin walked out of the room, and started down the hallway. The blue one started talking again, "Wow. I never thought I'd see the Outsider Theory come into effect. Can you believe it? Man, those Bulborbs are going to be destroyed."

"Pfft. It's a bunch of lies if you ask me. We don't need some alien's help to beat the Bulborbs. We're already winning."

"But at least we're going to win sooner!"

"Whatever makes you happy. Killing Bulborbs is killing Bulborbs, no matter how or where you go about doing it."

* * *

In a circular, dimly lit room, a large Antenna Beetle with massive antennae was sitting asleep. There was a Bulbear at the edge of the room, slowly drifting to sleep himself. Suddenly, the beetle's eyes opened, filled with a bright blue light. The Bulbear jumped to his feet and ran over. "It is time... Things are falling into place... Change... Change..." The beetle began muttering to itself.

"What? What's happening?"

"There is hope... In the forest by the spring and cave..."

"Yes?"

The beetle smiled faintly, "...Thirty days...". As quickly as he had awoken, the beetle went back to sleep. The Bulbear quickly ran out of the room to alert the Emperor.

* * *

It was nearing sundown. Olimar had pondered many things. He wondered what would happen if he was to die on the planet, whether or not Hocotate would learn what happened to him. His last known words would be a thank-you note he had sent to his friend Ebirk, who had supplied a very lengthy list of vacation spots and ideas. When he wouldn't return after fifteen days, Hocotate might first think he had decided to lengthen his vacation. Maybe they would think he tried to start a new life elsewhere in the universe. It would be years, decades, maybe even centuries or beyond that when they would discover his ship on this planet.

Olimar decided that he wasn't going to mope around and wait for his death, but was going to try to figure out a way to stay alive, like any logical individual would do. His engine wasn't the only thing still in his ship, and some other useful pieces of equipment were still inside. And there was still a chance for intelligent life to exist somewhere on this world, and if he could find that his chances of survival would increase greatly.

"Maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow." Olimar thought to himself as he boarded what was left of his ship and blasted up into orbit.

------

Umm... Yeah. The first chapter. I know it's a bit on the short side... But eh.

Oh, and you can't trust me for deadlines for anything. Ever. Try to review as often as possible.


	2. Day 2: Alliance

**Day 2: Alliance**

Dawn was breaking as the Dolphin landed in the clearing within the massive forest. Olimar checked to make sure he had everything he would need. Contrary to what he had originally thought when he first crashed, he had more to help him than some cold Space Noodles. For starters, while the Dolphin's computer had been ripped out during reentry ("Yet another piece of my ship to find." Olimar reminded himself), his suit's basic computer remained perfectly intact. Granted, it didn't have a personality (though that could be a pro rather than a con), it had plenty of helpful functions, the highlight of which included a translator.

If anything surprised him, it was that he had completely forgotten about a great tool: the Ominrod. It was a staff covered with buttons and knobs that could pull off a limitless amount of functions if used correctly. In fact, knowing how to use one was required for any to even consider traveling through space.

Olimar stepped out of the shell of his former ship and was awestruck by the immense size of the forest. The trees were far bigger than any building on Hocotate, and then to have dozens of these masses as far as the eye could see was something else entirely. The captain didn't have long to admire the sight however, because soon after walking out of the clearing he made too startling discoveries. The first of which was a second piece of his ship, the Eternal Fuel Dynamo, two hefty batteries which could, and did, store more than enough energy to last ten lifetimes. Right next to it, however, was a sleeping giant, a bizarre life-form with its mouth consisting of half its body, the other half being a red back with white spots. Its eyes were on stalks, separated from its head... Or was that its body? One thong was clear: this monster could swallow any Hocotation in a single gulp.

Then there was the issue of moving this newly discovered ship piece. It didn't take long for Olimar to figure out a quick fix for that though, as he decided to put that beast to good use. He cut down a few massive flowers (each held a solid circular mass, each with a similar symbol on it. Yet another mystery of this world.), and using the stems made a makeshift rope. Olimar then tied the rope to the Eternal Fuel Dynamo and to the sleeping creature. After thoroughly testing the rope to make sure it wouldn't snap too easily, he stepped in front of the beast. He decided that the most efficient method would be to rudely awaken the monster, and then have it chase him back to the ship, dragging the piece along the way. Olimar hadn't quite thought of what he was going to do when he reached the ship, but he figured he'd just play it by ear at that point.

Unfortunately, the innovative captain never got a chance to test out his plot, because a band of what appeared to be carrots with arms, legs, and noses ran up. Without giving Olimar a second thought (who was still at this point shocked to see PikPik carrots running around), they swarmed the giant creature. The beast woke up with a start, and desperately tried to kill these tiny carrots before it got killed first. "Hey!", Olimar shouted "I need him!". He fumbled around his Ominrod, searching for the right nob, and decided to pick one at random and hope for the best.

A mechanical voice whirred,"Low power energy blast has been activated. Please aim carefully". Olimar did as he was instructed to, and aimed his staff at one of the carrots that had latched on to the monster. "Firing in 3... 2... 1...".

Unfortunately, the automatic instructions failed to mention the massive recoil for the blast. While it did knock the particular little carrot far into the distance, Olimar was sent back flying several inches. However, it did certainly manage to capture the attention of the raging mob, as they changed their target from the big one to a much smaller one. The Hocotatian decided it would be best not to try to fire another shot, but rather just whack the critters around instead.

Olimar soon noticed two things while fighting off the tiny plant-creatures. The first was that these beings were amazingly fragile, and a single strong smack from his staff would be enough to kill one. The second was that they had no pattern recognition abilities at all. Even after watching the captain kill ten of them, another ten would run right up, take their places, and be killed in the exact same way. Olimar began to wonder how big of a threat these creatures were meant to be.

It wasn't long until the last of them had been killed. Olimar sighed, sat down and tried to catch his breath. He suddenly remembered an important detail: the monster was still awake, and was staring at him at the very moment. It lumbered over to him, and began making a series of strange noises at Olimar.

Once again there was a whirring, "Translator activating... Language found. Loading now...".

"-and I want to say thank you again for saving me from the-" At this point, there was a random noise "-, outsider."

Olimar looked up at the beast. "Excuse me," he began "I didn't quite catch that. What did I save you from?"

"Oh, you mean the-" Again, a strange noise was made rather than a word.

Olimar's suit picked up on the problem. "No word in your language currently exists for the group of small creatures, would you like to create one now?"

The captain stopped and thought for a moment. Those things _did_ resemble those Pikpik carrots he loved to eat so often. "Pikmin", he said.

"Name registered. Would you like to name this species as well?"

Olimar glanced at the monster, who seemed to have lost interest in the spaceman and was now roaring at the sky. "How about... Bulborb."

"Name registered."

Olimar looked around and noticed many more Bulborbs gathering around. They looked at his Eternal Fuel Dynamo, and began nudging it toward the Dolphin. One of them appeared which had much longer legs, and what appeared to be feathers on its body. It walked up to Olimar and knelt down next to him.

"Thanks you once again for dispatching of those Pikmin... They have been causing us a lot of trouble recently. For some odd reason, the rest of them in the forest ran off as soon as you got rid of the group that was attacking Monshume. I'm guessing you must've scared them all away."

"It really wasn't that difficult. They're pretty weak."

"That's how they trick you though. In numbers... Well, that's how we got to where the world is now."

Monshume trotted toward Olimar and began speaking, "That's enough Keab. I can explain things from here."

Keab looked at Monshume and back to Olimar. "The Emperor would definitely be interested in seeing you... Simply head north of this forest, and near the edge you'll find his current home. It tends to change often however." With that, he then departed to instruct the rest of the Bulborbs on what to do next.

Monshume glanced at Olimar, and spoke again. "I'm betting you have plenty of questions right now, and must be very confused."

"Confused. That's putting things mildly. What are those Pikmin?"

"The Pikmin? They're the scourge of this planet. They won't rest until they've killed every last thing and converted the bodies to make more of themselves. We've been fighting this war against them for as long back as anyone can remember... Ah, but it's a long story."

Olimar watched as more Bulborbs appeared, carrying other pieces of his ship, from the Whimsical Radar to the Extraordinary Bolt to even the Nova Blaster. "Well, it looks like some time just popped up. I might as well hear it while I'm waiting."

Monshume cleared his throat (or at least, that's what Olimar thought he was doing), and began his tale.

"A long, long time ago, and maybe even longer ago than that, there existed beings we know only as the Creators. We don't know exactly why or when they began, but we do know that they are responsible for the creation of every last life form on this planet. Of course, they weren't able to make everything at once, and their skills required practice. They started by making more primitive organisms, like the gelatinous Goolix or the Long-Legs. But slowly, more complex organisms were created, such as the Bulborbs or the Armored Cannon Beetles.

However, a problem slowly emerged. One of the first creations, a species of which most had weak bodies and even weaker minds slowly began to grow jealous of the Creators. They became angry that they had been passed by without another glance, and that the Creators seemed to look at them more as a prototype than actual creations. The were angry that the Creators gave more attention to us than to them. The Creators remained blissfully unaware of this problem, and while we had a feeling that the Pikmin were going to act out against them, we had no idea what would happen next.

As predicted, the Pikmin DID wage war against the Creators. But we were not prepared to see the Creators vanish after the first battle. Perhaps they felt that they were no longer wanted here by their creatures, or maybe they thought that the Bulborbs and the others might follow with the Pikmin as well. No matter why, no Bulborb doubts that a single Creator could easily take on and destroy all of the Pikmin, so they did not surrender because they thought that they could not win.

To make things worse, the Pikmin thought the Creators has ran away as cowards, and they came to the conclusion that they were more powerful than the Creators. This single thought then drove them to build up their forces to even greater numbers, as they changed their targets to those that had stolen their spotlight, the Bulborbs and every other thing that was created after the Pikmin.

We've been fighting this war ever since, and the Pikmin are slowly gaining ground against us. This is why we have to ask you for something Olimar, will you help us?"

Olimar watched as the last of the pieces of his Dolphin were loaded up. "Well, I don't have any reason to say no. You all have already been helping me put together my ship. So, what do you need exactly?"

"We need you to help us to make the Pikmin extinct, or at least deliver a blow so powerful that they can't possibly hope to recover. If you have any doubts, just remember that if they manage to kill us all, it will only be a matter of time before they try to discover means of reaching other worlds... Your world... And then, they'll kill everything there just as they want to kill everything here."

"Just one question" Olimar looked back at Monshune, "When do I start?"

* * *

The glowing yellow Pikmin sat at the desk, staring at the other two Pikmin. "So, we got some new information from a scout just recently. It turns out that we saw the outsider. It's about our size, with a big head and a giant, round nose."

The blue budded Pikmin started to get quite excited, "So? Did he decide to join-"

"The Bulborbs? Yes. He did. What I really want to know, is why Virax decided it would be best to send a band of Red Pikmin at outsider and attack him."

The red budded Pikmin spoke up, "Well, you see sir, your instructions were quite vague. There was no way I could supervise the entire wiping of the forest, so I left some parts to other Pikmin to han-"

"I don't have time for your excuses!"

"We don't need this outsider's help!"

"No, BUT THEY DO!" The yellow one shouted. "They no doubt have filled his head with plenty of propaganda by now, and if we can ever secure a confrontation, he probably wouldn't take anything which we said seriously..."

"Well, so what do you want us to do about that? It's just one outsider. He won't be able to do much against us." Virax explained.

"The problem is we have no idea what he's capable of. We don't know what his technology can do. We don't know what kind of tactics or tricks he has up his sleeve, we don't know ANYTHING!"

"It's all in the Outsider Theory. Because nobody is prepared for what this guy brings to the table, whoever he wants to win, wins." The blue budded one added.

Virax looked from one Pikmin to the other, slightly shocked. He started speaking again. "So, let me get this straight... According to you Martel, we throw in the towel because this alien doesn't like us? We surrender?"

The leader motioned them both to stop talking. "Ok, this is what we're going to do. Martel, I want you to send search teams for any and all things that crashed on our planet We might be able to use them. Virax, you keep this campaign going up as planned, but try to be cautious. And if by chance you run into the outsider, please, for my sake, don't kill him, and bring him back here. We'll try to talk him into joining us, and if he refuses, well, we won't have many options from there, would we?"


	3. Day 3: Bulblax

**Day 3: Bulblax**

Olimar looked over the horizon and spotted the clearing Keab had mentioned the day before. Before landing, however, he decided it would be best to recap on all the events which had occurred in the past two days. He had been on a vacation, hit by an asteroid, and crash landed on a strange planet. This planet was and is inhabited by intelligent life, the dominant of which are Bulborbs, which face a constant threat by a mindless race called the Pikmin. And the only way to ever reach home is to kill them.  
_  
"I've been in stickier situations",_ Olimar jokingly thought to himself. He carefully lowered the ship down, and before it even touched the ground a crowd of Bulborbs gathered around as a welcoming party. As he jumped down from the cockpit, he already recognized one of them as a the Bulborb he had just saved the previous day.

The Bulborbs instructed Olimar to follow them to the Emperor's lair. Despite it still being dark out, it wasn't very difficult to follow the others. Keab had told Olimar to arrive just before the sun rose, so that they would have a better chance of avoiding any Pikmin following them (apparently, they vanished from the planet at night time). After only what seemed to be a few minutes did Olimar find the entrance to the lair: A tiny, unsuspecting hole in the dirt. The captain watched as a few Bulborbs hopped in before attempting to do so himself.

Olimar was thoroughly unprepared for what the underground chamber had in store for him. Not only was it massive, but there were so many different types of creatures that he couldn't even begin to name them all. There were Bulborbs which were on fire, there were four-legged spiders of all sizes, there were two-legged fish walking around, there were even a few snakes which had heads and beaks just like birds. The moment he had hit the ground, all of these animals stopped what they were doing, and upon seeing him, moved out of the way to clear a path to the other side of the room. As he made his way across, the captain couldn't help but notice that the walls were also lined with strange alien artifacts, many of which seemed to have things written in a language he had never seen before.

But even after all these oddities, Olimar was shocked when he finally reached the Emperor. The back of this Bulborb looked like a giant rock, and moss seemed to be growing all around it. Unlike the other Bulborbs whose eyes were wide open, this one's eyes were half closed, as if he was going to fall asleep any second. But the one thing Olimar couldn't look away from was the mouth. There seemed to be a waterfall of saliva falling from it, even though the mouth was closed. A part of the captain silently hoped that the Emperor was a quiet type who didn't speak often, so he could be spared the horror of what the mouth looked like. His hope was soon destroyed, because the Emperor stood up, looked at him, and then opened his mouth, revealing a giant purple tongue which promptly licked Olimar. The Hocotatian's helmet was covered in saliva, and he quickly wiped it off to regain his vision. As soon as he could see, he looked around and noticed a look of shock, and in some cases insult, on every creature with a face.

Olimar whispered to Monshume, who was right next to him, "Err... Why is everybody looking at me like that? Is it because I'm from a different planet?"

"Not quite...", Monshume replied, also in a whisper, "When the Emperor licks somebody, it is a mark of honor. It's supposed to symbolize the Emperor giving what he has inside him to whomever receives it, and that he has pledged his eternal support."

"...Ok..."

"When you wiped the saliva off of your face, you were saying that he was not worthy of respecting or helping you."

"...Ah. That explains a lot." Olimar nervously looked back at the Emperor, who was still staring at him.

Finally, the Emperor spoke again, "Greetings. You may call me Bulblax. As you are no doubt aware, I am the leader of this alliance against the Pikmin." Bulblax paused, and then began speaking again, "Say, what is your name, outsider?"

"My name is Captain Olimar."

"Olimar... Olimar... It has a nice ring to it. It's certainly better than _my_ name."  
_  
"Wait a second... Is the Emperor kissing-up to me!?" _Olimar thought to himself. First the Bulborbs do nothing about his rude behavior, not even bothering to tell him how rude he was, and now Bulblax was trying to flatter him. The Hocotatian suddenly realized that he might mean a lot more to these Bulborbs than he initially thought he did.

Bulblax looked at Olimar and opened his mouth to speak. Before a word came out, however, a beetle with large antennae (a creature Olimar hastily named an Antenna Beetle, for obvious reasons) dropped down as if from nowhere and whispered something to the Emperor, and as quickly as it appeared, vanished with another hop. Bulblax opened his mouth once more and spoke, "It appears that I am not the only one who is interested in meeting you. A powerful ally of ours is also anxious to see you with his own eyes. Thankfully, his current chamber is not very far from here. Follow me." The giant Bulborb then turned around and jumped down a hole which had been covered from view by his massive body.

The captain soon found himself in a vast network of tunnels, and Bulblax began walking hastily as Olimar and Monshume attempted to follow. "These tunnels extend below multiple areas. For the most part, we Bulborbs have been forced into the ground." Bulblax explained as he made several turns, "Thankfully, the Pikmin rarely try to attack us down here. Space is limited, so they can't flood us with their soldiers, and their onions can't reach them here so they essentially have no escape route. However, in time the Pikmin will find a way to smoke us out of here."

Olimar nodded as if he understood exactly what the Emperor was talking about. They dashed around the catacombs in silence until a voice behind Olimar shouted, "Wait! It's right here!". Olimar turned around and was surprised to see, instead of a Bulborb, an Antenna Beetle. The Beetle tapped a wall, and a few seconds later it disintegrated. "You can never be too safe", the Antenna Beetle added. "I believe he wants to see you first Bulblax."

Bulblax exhaled and walked inside, and soon after the gap was filled once more. However, Olimar was too busy trying to figure out what had happened to his acquaintance. "Monshume?" he asked as he spun around. He looked back to the Antenna Beetle, only to see the Bulborb instead. He jumped back as Monshume chuckled.

"Exactly how much do you know about the Antenna Beetles?", the Bulborb asked.

"Absolutely everything", Olimar declared proudly.

"Now isn't the time for sarcasm Olimar."

"I've been here for only two days. How much do you expect me to know?"

Monshume sighed. "The Antenna Beetles choose not to participate directly in this war, but they still try to offer aid to the Bulborbs. Instead they've dedicated themselves to their minds and using thoughts to alter the environments."

Olimar looked at Monshume skeptically, "You mean like psychics?"

"Something like that. A few of them have been able to reach enlightened states. Rebitar, the one you're about to meet, has reached the point where he can gaze into the distant future, and more importantly give the proper advice to help change it."

"Is that a fact? Really?"

The Bulborb glared at the Hocotatian. "You don't seem to be in a happy mood today."

The captain sighed, "It's hard for me to take anything claiming to be a psychic seriously. How can the Bulborbs actually believe this Rebitar?"

"Because he knew exactly where to find you."

* * *

Olimar walked into the large circular room and found the large Antenna Beetle, Rebitar, sitting in the middle. His eyes, filled with a piercing blue light, were staring at the visitor. As the Beetle rose to fully stand up, Olimar noticed how thin and fragile Rebitar's body was, and it seemed as if his body wasn't standing but was being held up by a different force altogether. After giving Olimar a long glance, he spoke, "Greetings Olimar. I trust you've met my apprentice Monshume?"

"Why did he pretend to be a Bulborb?" Olimar responded.

"Because I told him to."

There was a long awkward silence. Olimar looked around the barren room and then blurted out "So what did you have to tell me?"

"Nothing."

"Why'd you want to see me then?"

"I just want to be one of the first to meet you. And I wanted to give you a special chance."

"Which is...?"

"You may ask me any question, and I will answer it."

Olimar caught himself just before he burst out laughing. He didn't want to insult the Bulborb's culture twice in a row on the same day. "Any question?"

"Anything you can think of."

Olimar considered asking the big questions... How would he die? Would he make it off the planet? What's the meaning of life? But he finally settled on one. "What's going to happen to me tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow...", Rebitar hummed to himself. After a few seconds, he responded, "You'll discover that those you underestimate have far more to offer than those you trust."

Olimar grinned. "Well, it's been nice talking to you. But I have things to do."

"Such as?"

"Finding out what I'll really be doing tomorrow."

* * *

Olimar walked back to the throne room to find Bulblax barking orders at every living thing in the room. What perplexed Olimar was how Bulblax could even remember all the tasks that needed to be done. One moment the Emperor would yell "You there! In the back next to the Dweevil! I want you to go to Floor 14 of the Dream Den. Tell him to find Crawbster. GO!" and then "I want a map drawn of all the Onions seen in the past three days. I want to see where they've moved, and I want to know NOW!" Olimar cautiously approached, and jumped back when Bulblax turned to look at him and yelled "You!"

"Yes, what do yo-"

Bulblax interrupted the captain, "I need you to go to-", then interrupted himself, "You there! Get the charted coordinates of the Omega Onion like I asked for!", then turned back to Olimar, "You're going to get a map soon, it will have the place where we need you tomorrow."

In less than a minute, Olimar was handed a small piece of paper with a map scribbled on it. Considering the haste in which it was made, it is quite detailed, and not only did it feature red longitudinal and latitudinal lines, but also a suggested landing point and a black arrow then pointing to where he ought to be the next day. Olimar looked up, considered asking how it was drawn, and then noticed a Bulborb in the corner frantically rubbing strange sticks against a paper pinned on the wall. Each stick seemed to produce a different color. Olimar decided not to question their methods and get back to the ship. Tomorrow was going to be a very big day.

* * *

Martel walked into a large rectangular room with his leader. "So, how's Virax doing on his task?"

The leader responded, "Very well. They've discovered a camp near here, getting ready to strike this Onion."

"So I take it we'll be lifting off again?"

"Of course not. The outsider will be there with him when they strike. If we're ever going to have a shot, tomorrow's going to be it. They're going to be eager to use their new weapon... The Bulborbs always are."

Martel nodded. "Well, I think you'll be pleased with our progress. We've recovered quite a bit of those objects." The green Pikmin walked over to a wall and pressed a button. One of the long walls rose up, revealing a window. Both of them walked over and watched as Pikmin were dragging all sorts of gadgets in. On final one came in, a yellow box with a screen and several buttons, and then the door behind the Pikmin sealed shut.

"Very good... Soon enough, we can make an offer he can't refuse."

* * *


	4. Day 4: Nectarian

**Day 4: Nectarian**

"So first day near the frontlines? Fourth day here you say? Probably sick of all these questions eh? A whole lot to swallow, I know. I think some of us still don't quite get what's going on but you don't have to know much to fight. Oh right, got carried away a bit, my name's Crawbster but you knew that. Now what combat experience do you have? How good are you with strategy?"

Olimar looked at the unbalanced creature and began to speak "Well, I don't have much fighting experience besides-"

"Breadbug!? What are you doing here?" The general barked at what looked like a walking loaf of bread.

"Hey calm down guy. You really could use a vacation." He looked at Olimar and paused "Wait, I take that back, this one could really use your vacation better. How are you? Eat well?"

The captain wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. Most of the new faces he met in the past days all asked the same questions, what his home was like, if he really killed an army of Pikmin on his own, what he thought of this world. But his diet was always out of the question until now.

"You did eat, right?" The Loafbug continued, sounding concerned.

"Oh right, Space Noodles."

"Look, sorry to interrupt this dreadfully boring conversation, but don't you think you can waste his time later?" Crawbster blurted. "We're about to fight a battle that could turn the tide of this war and if you're not going to help save your own hide then get out."

"Wait, you mean he's not fighting?" Olimar asked.

"See, the Creators gave us thick hides that can repel just about any attack and no means to strike out. We really don't care much about all this combat anyway, as there are finer things to enjoy in life."

"As I said" the Crawbster continued, "Cowards".

"Ok there's no reason to be so rude. I don't recall interrupting your war stories or Pileated's detailed explanations on the proper growth of Pellet Posies. Look Olimar (that is your name right?) if I can actually help _you_ with something for a change to make your stay more comfortable let me know. I've got some great food in my cave, and I don't care what you've eaten on whatever place you're from because the stuff in my kitchen tastes better."

"Done?" the general asked. "Please stop treating him like he's some sort of simpleton, Olimar is far beyond thinking with his stomach. Aren't you?"

Olimar's stomach was too busy grumbling at the prospect of eating something other than Space Noodles for a change. He doubted either of them could hear it though. He made a mental note that the next time he met this giant Breadbug he'd take him up on his offer. "So what's the strategy?" he asked Crawbster, deciding to change the subject for the first time this morning to something relevant.

"You see that giant monstrosity?" He pointed his meaty claw at the distance where a giant bulb could be seen on the horizon. "That's the Omega Onion, their flagship. Our goal is to destroy it or at the very least damage it so much it can't lift off again."

"And how do we destroy it?"

"By hitting it. Hard."

"… I was under the impression I was to be of some sort of importance here."

Crawbster chuckled. "You think I was actually going to make you plan out these tactics? It would take days to fully explain everything that both sides are capable of. You are going to be playing a key role… Leading the charge."

Olimar stared at the crustacean wide-eyed. "That… That was a joke right?"

"Don't worry, we have a Puffy Blowhog ready to go, you'll be riding high in the sky and above anything that can hurt you. From there, I'll leave it up to you whether you want to help the offensive somehow or be a coward like our friend the Breadbug."

* * *

"Virax? What are you still doing here? Didn't the Nectarian give you some assignments?" An orange Pikmin asked as he ran up to the green one, inside one of the many corridors of the Omega Onion.

"Yes, he did. I convinced Martel to do them for me." He casually responded.

"How in the world did you pull that one off? Every day I've known him he's obsessed over the Outsider arriving and 'making things right'."

"You don't have to remind me. All it took was some basic reasoning."

"Such as?" inquired the orange one.

Virax explained, "I merely pointed out that one of us should stay just in case, after all this ship is our main base of operations and if this plan of using it as bait to snatch the alien backfires we might need one last line of defense. Since I've been doing this longer than him our odds are better if I stayed. And besides, I reminded him that they're not just going to throw him out in the first lines leading the charge but farther in the back, so if he finished checking up with all the outposts for their activity quick enough he could make it back in time to meet him as well."

"And the Nectarian knows you decided to stick behind rather than follow his orders?"

"I haven't gotten around to telling him yet, but I'm pretty sure he would support my judgment."

* * *

Segmented Crawbster pounded his claw on the ground "What do you _mean_ Manat isn't here Titan? He's a bit essential to our plan!"

Titan Dweevil looked at Olimar, who was too busy walking among and observing the troops and their strange natural abilities to notice their conversation, and spoke in a hushed tone, "Look, you knew the idea from the start. This whole thing is a distraction, and it's working well. The Pikmin are already calling all their onions on this one spot, thinking this is some sort of last stand from us. The whole idea is that we can strike any spot we want because they're leaving it unguarded. And Manat and Acbon agreed that to strike Volatile Volcano in the meantime."

"But if it's supposed to work, we need to make this look convincing. Without Manat shooting up the battlefield they'll know something is up and that we're not throwing everything we have at them."

"I thought that's where he came in" Titan pointed at Olimar. "Shouldn't that be enough for them?"

"I hope so… to be honest I really don't count him as much of an asset. The only reason I want him here is because everybody else thinks he's something special. That means a big boost in morale for our soldiers and fear for our enemy over our 'invincible alien'… But it's nearing the hour to strike, and if we're going to win back Volatile Volcano we better get started… Olimar!"

Olimar turned and started walking back, "Wow." He started, "you've got quite the mix of fighters here."

Crawbster chuckled, "That's the idea, because they've got quite the mix of colors."

"What do colors have anything to do with it?"

Crawbster stared at the captain, "… Nobody explained this to you? Well to put it briefly, each color of theirs has special abilities and weaknesses, and it's this massive adaptable variety that has made them so difficult to fight in the past. You'll see what I'm talking about later. For now, get on that Puffy Blowhog. It's time."

Olimar nodded and walked up to the Blowhog. It had a what looked like a giant cup (a leftover from the Creators he was told) attached to the bottom of it with rope, like some living hot air balloon. He jumped in and the balloon animal lifted high above the field, and looking down the Bulborbs resembled insects from this height.

With a yell from Crawbster that Olimar couldn't quite understand at such a distance, the battle began. More onions landed and Pikmin poured out, and the two forces met just below where he was now floating. The captain began turning a few knobs and levers on his Ominrod then pointed it down towards the Pikmin side of the battlefield, muttering to himself, "I hope my aim is still good."

"I do too." The Puffy Blowhog replied.

* * *

The orange Pikmin was running through the hallways and stopped abruptly when he saw his green friend sitting in the same spot as before. "What's up? The battle started a few minutes ago! I thought you were sticking around hoping to have a bit of carnage." He asked, looking at him confused.

"I can see it all from here." Virax replied, pointing out the opposite wall which was now a window. "Quite the bit of excitement, I just don't feel quite like jumping right in."

"Oh I understand. You're scared."

"Scared? Of what?"

"Of the Outsider. I figured you stuck behind for a chance to see him first hand in battle without Martel getting in the way, but now you're scared he might just be as invincible as they say."

The green Pikmin glanced up at his companion, then looked back outside at the battle. "No, I really don't see what the big deal is. I read the report on him, and it really wasn't anything too impressive. If he does manage to surprise and live up to the hype..." He paused, smirked and continued, "then I'm in for my best fight yet. Most of those Bulborbs on the front line couldn't put up a fight to- What the hell?" He yelled and leaped to his feet.

"What happened?"

"Our catapults!"

"Yeah, we sent them out. Why, was that a mistake?"

"Just look!" He shouted and pointed to the window. The other Pikmin walked up to the window and looked at the closest catapult. Moments later it exploded in a burst of light.

"The bomb rocks seem to be setting off early but how could…" He looked back to the green one who was laughing quietly, "Something funny?"

"I guess this alien really can do some interesting tricks." He patted the orange Pikmin on the shoulder and ran down the hallway.

* * *

"Aaaand with one more…" Olimar said as he pressed the button on his Ominrod, firing a small energy shot at it, "Done, there goes their catapults unless they plan on bringing out more. What do I shoot at next?"

The Puffy Blowhog squinted down at the battle field, "Nothing yet… just a bunch of their grunts at the moment, the basic reds, yellows, and blues. Wait until they try something else and then-"

"Hey I see something!" Olimar shouted, "There's a… Just a single green one? It's just running out towards the others seemed to have noticed it and are chanting-"

"WHAT!?" The Puffy Blowhog screamed out in terror, "There's an elite one? HERE? No no no… They weren't supposed to be here… supposed to be busy scouting out other areas right now… Oh no…"

Olimar looked up, slightly confused. "Look, I don't know what the big problem is. If you're so scared I'll shoot it down." He took aim with the Ominrod, "Here, watch, problem solv- Ok how'd he pull that off."

On the ground, the green Pikmin somehow saw the blast coming and jumped almost a foot away from where it landed. It stood up straight, looked up to where Olimar was an pointed at him.

"Huh, so they have some good reflexes. He can't reach us up here anyway" Olimar continued, trying to calm the Blowhog whose shaking was causing the cup to rock back and forth. He aimed the Ominrod again, determined not to miss again.

The green Pikmin began running again, this time in the direction of Olimar, and with the running start jumped again. Olimar watch stunned as it got just high enough to land on the Puffy Blowhog. He couldn't see from below, but the Pikmin must've done something to kill the Blowhog in a single blow because it shook more violently enough to knock Olimar off and into a free fall.

Olimar looked down below at the rushing ground and tried to focus. _"Think…think… Balance the forces."_ He turned a knob on his Ominrod, pointed it downward and pressed a button. A jet of flame burst out of the bottom and his fall began to slow. The captain still hit the ground with some force but got up quickly and looked around. The Pikmin around him began to back away, with some pointing to the sky. He glanced up and rolled out of the way just as the green one crashed down where he had just been standing.

The Hocotatian got up and pointed the Ominrod at the Pikmin. "I'm ready for you this time."

"Is that so?" The Pikmin clenched a fist, and then opened it scattering some sparkling dust on the ground. He grabbed the flower which sprouted and pulled. Where the roots should've been, there was a sharpened blade of wood.

The Pikmin charged at Olimar who responded by firing a jet of fire at him. To his horror neither the weapon nor the enemy seemed to be harmed (or care in the case of the enemy), and he stopped the fire and raised the Ominrod just in time to block the first blow.

* * *

Martel ran up to the orange Pikmin and panted, "That was the fastest I've ever finished, I think I just set some kind of record."

The Pikmin nodded, barely listening.

"So what did I miss? Did the battle start already?"

"Wow I have never seen him fight that frenzied before."

"What are you talking about?" Martel paused and peered out the window, which had an excellent view of the fight between Virax and Olimar. His eyes widened.

"I mean I know he insisted that the Outsider was nothing special but if he's able to last this long in a fight that has to count for something right- Hey where'd you go?" The orange Pikmin looked around, shrugged and resumed watching the fight.

* * *

_"What is up with this?" _Olimar thought as he parried strike after strike _"These Pikmin were supposed to mindless killers that overwhelm by numbers alone. Yet here's one that not only can talk but is putting up way more of a fight. But… There's a pattern to his moves… Just got to wait for the chance to exploit it and now!"_

Olimar sidestepped to the right and swung his Ominrod, hitting the Pikmin hard across the face and knocking him back a few steps. Olimar rushed forward and swung again, but the Pikmin caught it with his free hand and slashed, hitting the captain's wrist. Olimar let go of his weapon and quickly checked his arm, and though it was merely a scratch he was no longer watching his opponent who kicked him to the ground. The Pikmin pointed his sword at Olimar, ready to finish him off.

"Virax!" Both fighters turned their heads to see a second green Pikmin rush out of the onion, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He roared.

Virax looked around confused, then looked back at the Pikmin. "I'm fighting the enemy? I thought it would be pretty obvious."

"We had specific orders not to kill the Outsider!"

"Well technically I hadn't killed him yet so I didn't disobey-"

"_Yet!?_ You only didn't kill him because I interrupted you?"

"Well you don't know that for certain-"

"Yeah I don't need to hear it". The second Pikmin passed by his partner and helped Olimar up. "Allow me to apologize for my friend's behavior" he began, "He got excited when he heard you'd be here today-"

"_I_ got excited? Martel, you wouldn't shut up for the past three days about finally meeting him. I would phrase it more as 'mildly interested' compared to you."

Martel continued speaking, ignoring the outburst, "Anyway, the Nectarian would really appreciate having you as a guest, so if you could just follow us" he motioned to the entrance of the Omega Onion, "we'll be on our way."

Olimar picked up the Ominrod and apologized, "As much as I'd love to I'm afraid I really can't." He turned around and pointed in the opposite direction, "See, there's an invading army over there and they'll be breaking through your lines any moment now."

Martel looked where Olimar pointed, "What army? I thought you came alone or something."

"No, there _was _an army." Virax explained, "The problem is they all turned around and ran off when I killed your Puffy Blowhog. That sort of thing tends to scare them off, that and they probably figured you died in the fall or something."

Olimar looked back at the two Pikmin. "Ok, so I'm your prisoner then? I guess that will have to do for now."

Virax nodded, "Good. Now just try to keep up as we show you the way. I wouldn't want you to get lost for an hour." He turned and walked back into the Onion quickly.

Martel caught up with Virax and whispered, "I still can't believe what I just heard. You knocked him out of the sky? How high was he? Did you expect him to survive the fall?"

The three entered the Onion and began navigating the halls. He responded, "To answer in order, yes, pretty high, and no, not really."

"Any other times you almost killed him I need to know about?"

"I'm not sure you needed to know about that other time either to be honest. In fact, I still don't see quite what's the big deal. He's really not that great of a fighter from what I saw-"

"He got a good hit in on you from what I saw-"

"Only one hit. And I got him right back and would've ended the whole thing too. But second, I can already tell he's not going to want to help us."

"Really? How can you be so sure?"

"You must not have been paying attention to the report the other day. That squad of Pikmin he killed did nothing to provoke him. They were simply following orders and attacked a Bulborb when he came along and chose to kill them."

"Maybe he was afraid the Pikmin would be after him next"

"Then he could've waited for them to finish off the Bulborb before attacking. I don't think he'd want to risk fighting it along with the others"

The three reached the elevator. Martel pressed the button, "Fair enough, want hear why I think he's going to help us?" The doors opened and they walked in. "Anatomy."

"What?"

"Just look at him. He has such a similar appearance… Maybe we share a common ancestor or something."

Virax looked over his shoulder at Olimar, who was too busy looking out the window in the elevator to notice the conversation, and then back to Martel, "Well, I can see vaguely what you mean. But I wouldn't call that thing on his stem a flower exactly."

"Not the flowers we're used to, no. But we've never seen his world. The flowers there probably all shine with brilliance like that."

"… That's still a very strange head he has. Some sort of clear skull on the outside?"

"It's probably for protection"

"Yeah, but how does he smell things? It gets in the way of anything heading to his nose… That is a nose right?"

The elevator doors opened and they continued walking, this time down a single straightforward hallway.

* * *

An Antennae Beetle landed next to Emperor Bulblax. "Reports from the battlefield!" he announced with a salute.

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Crawbster sends word that Olimar was captured. The rest of our forces have withdrawn from the area safely."

"Ok, and Acbon?"

"As predicted, Volatile Volcano's defenses were pitiful, as most had been drawn away to deal with the diversion. However, it will take some additional time to set in fortifications to hold on to it in future battles. Reinforcements are requested to assist."

"Good, so it all worked out in the end."

"Oh and sir?"

"Yes?"

"Crawbster asked whether Olimar will actually survive while the Pikmin have him long enough to escape?"

"I'm not sure." The Emperor stopped and pondered the question. He looked at the Antenna Beetle. "What do you and the others see?"

The Antenna Beetle nodded.

"That's a relief. Well go tell Crawbster that then."

* * *

The Nectarian turned away from his view above the clouds (the Omega Onion had long since lifted off) to Olimar. "Well I suppose it's time for a more formal introduction. These two are Virax and Martel, as you've no doubt got to know them."

"My name is Olimar."

"Hmm… Olimar… Interesting name."

There was a pause. Olimar spoke up again, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm the Nectarian, but I thought they told you that already."

"I meant your name."

"I don't have one."

Olimar looked around confused. "Your two officers have names, why can't you?"

The Nectarian sighed, "As much as I'd love to get to the details of it all, I think we have far more important matters to discuss. Somebody else can tell you the story. But for now, I have to know what page you're on."

"What do you mean?"

"What did the Bulborbs tell you about this war? I'm going need to know what blanks to fill."

"Oh they covered everything. The Creators came here some time ago, made a bunch of creatures, and you all felt like you weren't receiving enough attention compared to the others so you started up a bit of a rebellion. I understand, I'm a father who gets busy a lot and my kids try to pull the same stunts against all the-"

"We struck back for _that_?" The Nectarian exclaimed. Olimar couldn't tell if he was on the verge of laughter or breaking something, or perhaps a combination of the two. The Pikmin began to regain his composure and spoke calmly, "Well, it seems they told you what I figured they would, just some absurd things."

"Really? They seemed to have an entire history of it, and they seemed mad since you guys struck first after you drove those Creators off-"

"Let me guess, that act was really horrible of us right?"

"Yeah, that's what I understood. Driving off benevolent life-giving forces tends to be looked down upon where I'm from."

"Oh! Now this all makes sense! We're working off of your definition of benevolence! That is the one that includes creating entire species just to kill them in as many ways as possible or use them as food for other creations, right? See I was just a bit confused on that minor point."

"…"

"I suppose I understand why you would have the wrong mental picture about them, I'm sure the Bulborbs and their friends loved them. Those Creators did supply an endless amount of small, defenseless prey. Don't get me wrong, they loved using us for more than nutritious meals. They had all sorts of fun games, such as see which one of their beloved creations could kill a hundred of us the fastest. When that got boring, they switched over to see how many different ways you could kill a Pikmin… bomb rocks, flame geysers, drowning, crushing, poison gas, food… And then they'd go right ahead and make new creatures based off of their marvelous discoveries. Some parts of the world are still covered in their mazes that they built, except there were no exits, just a variety of painful dead ends.

Well as you could no doubt imagine, there came a time in all of this where we realized we would endure no longer. So we did the only thing we could think of at the time. We decided to strike out against the Creators. Now, any reasonable, maybe even slightly kind, beings would wipe us all out and decide not to grow any more Pikmin to prevent any further uprising. But nope, they refused to let us win at anything, including our death wish. Instead, they vanished, leaving us to try to survive and clean up their mess of past creations. The Bulborbs of course saw us the same way they always had: food. So we fought back to protect ourselves. I guess they must've seen the fighting back instead of being eaten as a declaration of war, and here we are today."

"They phrased the last part differently, as if the day following the Pikmin went out in a war party and-"

"Of course they would lie to you and tell you we struck first, they want you to think they're the good guys so you'd fight for them."

"So I know you're not just telling lies yourself so I would think you're the good guys because… Well that doesn't matter either. I didn't land here to be a hero or anything. I crashed here, and all I really care about is finding a way home. It just would be nice to help the good guys along the way."

The Nectarian jumped up. "That reminds me! I have something to show you that I think you'll really like." He walked over to one of the walls and pushed a button, sliding the wall away. He motioned for Olimar to walk over and pointed out the window. "Trust me, you'll get a kick out of it." He continued.

Olimar looked out the window and saw over a dozen of the pieces of the Dolphin. "You… Found them all?"

"I figure we can work out a deal we can both be happy with. How about this, you help us take control of the forest and surrounding areas by killing all the Bulborbs there, and then I'll let you have the pieces. Until then, I don't think I can let you leave."

"You don't understand, I can't survive here forever to conquer all the other kingdoms here. I only have about 25 days left before I leave or I die."

"I suppose that should be sufficient motivation to get a move on it then. I think Martel would be happy to show you around. In the mean time I have to give a lecture on the importance of obedience"

Martel led Olimar out into the hallway. Martel decided to try to break the silence, "So, I'm happy you finally came around to the truth and helped us fight those monsters off."

Olimar stopped walking and glared at Martel, "Where you listening to anything back there? Threatening to let me die if I don't help doesn't exactly encourage me to trust your version of events."

Martel turned around to Olimar and tried to explain, "Look, just try to see it from our point of view. We couldn't risk your refusal so we had to come up with a backup plan just in case-"

"I have an idea, how about you try looking at it from my point of view, at how confusing this whole mess just got. Or, maybe you should try looking at it from the Bulborb's perspective too. You know they're on the brink of losing right? That they'd be willing to sign some sort of treaty just to end this? Has either side even tried reasoning or diplomacy?"

"There is no reasoning with creatures that can only think with their bellies."

"Interesting, they referred to Pikmin as the mindless scourge of this world bent on erasing all life as their excuse to never try."

"So… whose side do you think is right then?"

Olimar sighed, "Right now, I don't think either side is that good. Sure, one of them might have fired the first shot but if it's been going on for this long without either side even attempting to find a peaceful resolution to all of this then the way I figure it's both of their faults. If you're going to try to talk to me about these things then you'll have to stop pretending as if the PIkmin have never made a mistake and don't carry some of the blame themselves for it."

"Then I'm sorry to have brought it up. Is there anything you might need specifically for your stay?"

Olimar thought for a moment and then spoke, "Yeah, actually there is. I don't suppose I could enter the room with all the parts you found, could I? It's not like I can leave with them anyway, I just would like to inspect them to make sure they weren't damaged too badly by the fall."

Martel nodded, "Well sure, that could be arranged then."

About twenty minutes later, Olimar was alone in the storage room with all of his parts. He spotted his computer and hit the power button. "Greetings Olimar, how are you this fine evening?"

"There's nothing fine about this evening. Do you know what's been happening?"

"I've been in energy conservation mode. I only have enough battery power to last for about sixty days at full power so I need to spread it out."

"Well congratulations. I have less than half that time left."

"How unfortunate. But let me guess, you want me to save the day and solve some problems for you that you can't do quickly enough. Just start from the beginning."

Olimar retold the events of the past few days, of how he met the Bulborbs and the story they told him and the Pikmin and their different story. "…And so, the whole thing is leaving me a bit confused on what the best course of action is." Olimar concluded.

"I regret to remind you that when it comes to dire matters like this I'm of little use. I can make calculations, but I can't decide what species can survive. I would love to get the expansion that would allow me to if we ever make it off this rock."

"Oh, no, I didn't want you to pick a side for me. Something else surprised me entirely: despite the fact that to my knowledge none of the species have any sort of inter-planetary travel, my translator still picked up on their language and allowed me to understand out."

"Significance?"

"This means, some time, somewhere along the line there was some sort of visitor to this planet that translated it into their language, which then could be translated in Hocotatian. Maybe it was the Creators, maybe it was somebody who knew the Creators or something. I doubt it could've been after that because they all agree that I'm the first they've ever seen."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Scan through all those travel logs I downloaded on you, see if you have any records at all of any other ship in this area for as far back as you can. And if you find something… Maybe it could give me something to go off of like a clue or something."

"This scan might take several days, especially without the radar here I'm not entirely sure where in space we are; I only can make an estimation."

"That's fine with me. I figure I'll be busy until then." Olimar glanced down at the scratch on his suit he received in the previous battle and had an idea. "That reminds me, I don't suppose you can help me design a schematic for something."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Earlier today I dropped my Ominrod in battle and was completely defenseless. I was thinking maybe I could install some sort of last measure defense system in my suit. Maybe it could send out an electric shock or something."

"That would be…. stupid. In order for such a device to work it would have to leech off of your suit's survival system battery and you would end up burning your time off quickly. So instead of having twenty days left, if you used it you would have nineteen and a half days left, or just nineteen. All depending on how long you used it. That's not mentioning the nasty short term effects that could result as well."

"I know, I thought about that. But if it came down to a matter of life and death, I'd rather lose a day than just die on the spot."

"So at least you've put some thought into it. What do you plan on using to make this tool?"

"Well," Olimar looked around at the pieces of his ship, "The way I figured they must've brought some pieces back that I might not entirely need. I could dissemble some and use the scraps to make it. And I already got a scratch on my suit near my hand so I could just place it there."

"Finally, when do you hope to get this thing up and running by?"

"Tomorrow morning would be best. I have a feeling I'm going to be going up against some things a lot more potent than just Pikmin."

"In that case, I'll get right on it. Analyzing now." With that last statement, the computer began whirring and images and calculations flooded the screen.

------

A/N: So yeah, finally got a fourth chapter up. A part of me just really wants to get this thing down and done finally so I was just forcing myself to trudge on through instead of taking my time. I'm not completely satisfied but I was more afriad that if I tried pacing myself too much I'd never finish like usually happens on these sort of things. I'd really love to have this thing done by the end of the summer or at least make significant progress by then.

I'd really appreciate if you'd review at the very least to show that somebody out there is reading this thing. You can say whatever you want, whether it's your own personal predictions and thoughts or what you liked or what I could do to make it more enjoyable.


	5. Day 5: Volcano

**Day 5: Volcano**

The Nectarian leaned in his seat, looking at the two green Pikmin standing before him. "So I got some fascinating news earlier today." He began, "Would you like to hear it?" The two Pikmin stood at attention in silence. He continued, "So, remember how I specifically told you two to double check the status of all our other onions in the fields? To keep track of any other movements from the Bulborbs? It seems as if we lost almost all our ground in the Volatile Volcano that we fought so hard to hold on to just a few days ago. I wonder… How did this happen?"

"Well, you're going to have to ask Martel about that since he volunteered to do all of it himself." Virax casually explained, pointing at his partner.

Martel spoke up, "You see sir with Olimar on the battlefield here I was in a rush to get it done so quickly so I could get here in time, and if I hadn't Virax probably would've killed-"

"I don't care about your excuses!" The golden Pikmin interrupted, "You know, I could've sent any Pikmin to review the enemy movement elsewhere and the reports from the onions. Do you know why I picked you?" Silence again, "Because I wanted to be certain that there would be no mistakes, that there would be no special surprises for us today. I could expect this sort of screw up from the rest of the Pikmin but not from you two. Now we have to rush into that place and take it back again before they finish off the forces remaining there, and in the meantime our supply of bombrocks is going to be cut off."

"It's really not a big of a deal. We can go down there and get that mess cleaned up by sundown easily." Virax pointed out confidently.

The Nectarian shook his head, "There is no 'we'. I'm not sending you two down there. Instead, you're going to be doing what you should've been doing yesterday: checking for any new movement made by them during the night."

"Oh I get it, this is supposed to be some sort of punishment."

The leader glared the red-budded Pikmin, "No… This is avoiding making the same mistake twice. The Bulborbs know we're going to strike the volcano again with our full force because we need that supply. They also know that without it we're going to be hard pressed to defend any other outpost in the meantime, so they have easy pickings right now. I need you two to stay on the move and to be ready to go to any location where they're spotted and to fight them off."

Martel looked at the Nectarian confused, "Then… Who are you sending over there then?" he asked.

"Olimar. We'll see if he was worth the sacrifice, and if he wasn't then good riddance."

* * *

Olimar walked through the corridors of the massive onion, following an orange Pikmin and checking off his mental list of supplies to make sure he was prepared. Late the previous night, the Pikmin found the Dolphin near the battlefield and beamed it up on to the Omega Onion, and even though they refused to actually finish assembling it with the other pieces in the storage area it did give him the chance to stock up on Space Noodles to eat because he had no idea when he would be able to return. Olimar had also been able to finish his self-defense mechanism, in the form of a small retractable beam attached to his wrist. When active it would extend for easier aim, but at the cost of his precious battery life.

The Nectarian had been very brief on what his mission was, just that he had to follow the orange Pikmin who would explain things as they went along. Currently they were heading to a docked smaller onion which would fly him to the new battleground.

* * *

The Man-at-Legs crawled through the caverns below the volcano. His surrounding environment had a striking resemblance to his own home, as it consisted of what seemed to be a bottomless abyss with only rusted metal platforms to stand on as well as various pipes extending vertically beyond view. The arachnorb spotted another platform six inches away. The Man-at-Legs took a few steps back, and with a running start cleared the gap.

"Manat! Wait!" An Antenna Beetle called out as he landed on the platform Manat had just jumped off of. "I have an important message for you!"

The arachnorb shrugged and continued on his path, heading deeper below into the network of pipes leaving the Antenna Beetle to follow after him.

* * *

Virax and Martel paced down the hallway. "I still can't understand how he thought that would be a good idea to send Onrac as the one to watch Olimar. That Pikmin can't handle any responsibility at all, all yesterday he just sat and hid here in the onion while the battle raged outside." Virax ranted as Martel nodded absentmindedly. He continued, "Sure, I can see the point that it would be nice to get rid of both of them at once, but that still doesn't solve the problem of actually reclaiming the volcano. In fact…" Virax paused and looked at his partner, "Ok I'd figure you'd be at least a bit angry over being denied working with Olimar."

Martel glanced at Virax and then back to the ground, "He mentioned something yesterday that had me thinking yesterday."

"Which would be..?"

"What if the Bulborbs were right? What if we started this whole thing over nothing?"

"Oh not this…" Virax sighed, "Look, it's really simple: it doesn't matter."

"What?"

"It really doesn't matter who started it. It just matters which side finishes it. Dwelling in the past won't do anything. Suppose for a moment we did somehow discover that we definitely started it. What then?"

"Well maybe we could apologize or-"

Virax scoffed, "Oh yeah that would definitely go over great. 'Hey, so it turns out we really did kill you guys first. Sorry about killing millions in that bloody war. But hey, peace right?'. All such a realization would do is force us to fight harder, because attempting for peace would just be suicidal at that point. And if it turns out the Bulborbs attacked us, then the same applies: why accept their apology for making this drag on for so long?"

"But we have to stop sometime right? Somewhere along the line?"

"Sure we will. Once one side is dead the war will finish. But as it is now most of the Pikmin here honestly don't care about who attacked who first. The point is we've always been fighting and it's all we can remember. If anything Olimar trying to convince you against fighting just shows how weak he really is, and how afraid he is that he can't survive a fight unless his opponent shows mercy. Does that answer-"

"Yes. Yes it does. I have things to do, I suggest you do what you have been assigned instead of slacking off again and blaming me."

* * *

A white onion flew through the sky, roughly twice the normal size. Inside, the center was filled with bombrocks as well as some eggs filled with nectar and other juices. Olimar was alone with the orange Pikmin, both sitting against the wall staring at the pile of supplies in the middle of the room.

"So…" Began the Pikmin, "I bet you have about a dozen questions right about now. It's a long flight, so go ahead and ask away. Anything you feel like asking."

Olimar pondered for a moment and decide to go with the most obvious one: "What do the different colors of Pikmin mean?"

The Pikmin's eyes widened, "Wow, I would've gone with 'so what's your name?', but I guess getting right down to the point works as well."

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about it. How much did the Bulborbs explain to you about it?"

"Well Crawbster said it would take too long to explain, just something about different abilities. But now I also see some of you have buds and flowers as well as leaves, so if you could explain how that works that would be nice as well."

"Alright, a full blown lecture it is. Well, as you've no doubt noticed, we're organized in a strict ranked structure, and a Pikmin's color and what they have on their stem shows this. The very bottom is made up of reds, who are immune to fire and are some of the better fighters-"

Olimar interrupted, "That can't be right. I killed a big group of them by myself a few days ago. They just ran up blindly to get hit."

"They had leaves on their heads, right?"

Olimar paused, then spoke, "Yeah… Yeah they did."

The Pikmin nodded, "Yeah, that would cause it alright. See, the higher the rank of a Pikmin, the greater responsibility it's given and so the wider range of choices are available to it. At the very bottom level, a Pikmin seems to be little more than a drone as they can't even speak unless ordered to. It's hard to judge how good a fighter one of those Pikmin are because it's based far more on how strong of a leader they had guiding them. And based on what you describe, their leader wasn't even with them to give any specific commands, so they were totally helpless."

Olimar nodded. "That definitely explains that then. So I take it you're pretty high up on the ladder yourself?"

The orange one laughed, "No way, I'm more towards the middle, maybe a bit above it. I could be higher if I wanted, but I never really cared too much for the whole rank system at all. In fact, I think my apathy towards this whole war has made me a bit unpopular with the leadership, which is why they assigned me here with you."

"So you refused to fight?"

"Not directly no, I can't turn down any orders from a superior. But I did it in a roundabout way by picking this color. But we got sidetracked. The yellows are pretty good with bombrocks and can stand some electricity-"

"I'm sorry, but something else has me confused. You said the reds are the ones immune to fire, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well yesterday I was fighting a green one and he walked right through the flames like they were nothing."

The Pikmin shook his head, "Well, greens operate a bit differently, though I'm certain you're referring to Virax here. Green, as you've noticed by now, are second from the top, with the Nectarian taking that spot. What makes greens so powerful is that they don't actually have many unique abilities but a blend of a dozen or more so abilities from other colors, with some attributes just enhanced in general such as strength. However, the precise mix tends to vary by the individual, many times influenced by the color of choice of the Pikmin before they underwent the process. In Virax's case, he was a red for most of his life before hitting green, so it was natural that he'd earn fire immunity among the other skills."

"I presume his bud is red because that was his color before changing then?"

The Pikmin grinned, "Now you're getting the hang of it."

"Ok, new question. If these greens are so powerful why not make more of them, like convert the whole army into them? Not only would they be stronger but since they all share the same color predicting what they would be capable of would be extremely difficult for the opponent to do."

"Well, there are two reasons. The first is that it's just simply impossible even if we wanted to. The Emerald Candypop Bud, the means by which Pikmin change their color to green, is close nearly all the time, and when it does finally open it only accepts one candidate. The second reason is that once a Pikmin reached green they will be freed from obeying any commands from their superiors and so have complete free will. Which could cause trouble if their judgment isn't trustworthy."

"So what happens if a green Pikmin disobeys orders? Are they punished?"

"It really varies from a case to case basis. You're probably referring to how Virax almost killed you yesterday. For something like that then there would definitely be consequences. Though I don't think that Pikmin really cares too much, he gets away with ignoring orders a lot."

"How?"

"Before the current Nectarian was crowned, the two of them were partners. Heck, the current Nectarian became a green after Virax… I think this is the third Nectarian he's been serving under so far. The reason he gets away with it so much is that there's still the fact that they're still friends and view each other a bit more as equals, and he still gives him advice like he did when he was still just a green."

"That reminds me of something else actually. The Nectarian said he'd explain this whole thing about why he doesn't have a name but never got around to it."

"Oh right. Well, you were with the Bulborbs, you met Rebitar right?"

"Yeah, I did. He's supposed to be some sort of psychic right?"

"You could put it that way yes. He has the ability to observe any creature he wants while meditating, whether or not it's on the Bulborb side or a Pikmin. In order to do this properly he has to lock on to their identity, and to pull that off he needs to know their name."

Olimar looked at the Pikmin surprised, "Wait, so you got rid of his name because he thought he could find some sort of loophole? I was expecting… a more significant reason."

"I don't see why that reason isn't good enough for you. As far as we can tell it's worked pretty well, though I confess they're not exactly going to try to make an experiment to see whether there's any sort of loophole to be exploited."

"But beyond that… That Rebitar is hardly anything to be frightened of."

"How do you figure an enemy that knows our every next move as nothing to be afraid of?"

"Because he can't do it, it's been blown way out of proportion."

The Pikmin chuckled, "As somebody he's been around here for more than five days, I can verify that he has called some very unique events precisely. But hey, you met him. Did he give you a prediction."

"Yes… Yes he did. Something about the ones I underestimate having more than the ones I trust."

The Pikmin was still grinning, "And you're telling me that didn't come true when you found out that we had all the parts to your machine you were missing?"

"So? That's the whole point."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"In the place I'm from we have a saying, that fortune-tellers fire an arrow and then paint the target around where it lands. Because his fortune was so vague just about anything that could've happened yesterday would have qualified, even if I didn't get captured. Like, I could find out that Giant did have delicious food which would be a lot to offer me because I've been living off of disgusting Space Noodles. No, I would've been impressed if he told me specifically that a green Pikmin would prove to be a fight and that I would discover that you were going to blackmail me into helping you by using my ship."

"Oh, so you've met Giant? Pretty nice guy isn't he?"

"Yeah he- Wait what?" Olimar sat up straight and looked at the orange Pikmin, "Why would you know what he's like?"

"He's a Breadbug. They're not a part of the war, at least not directly. Whenever I find time to sneak off I try to visit his kitchen. They got some really great fruit juices there that make nectar taste like dirt, I'll tell you that much."

"So you don't care that he offers supplies to the Bulborbs?"

"Why should I? He'd probably offer the same thing to the Pikmin if our leaders ever bothered even asking for something."

Olimar relaxed again against the wall, "Weird, with the things I hear about the Pikmin from them I assumed you were all kill on sight." He said.

"For the Bulborbs, yeah. And you probably only spoke to their leaders, and you can't really judge them off of that. Likewise, you can't judge all of us just from our leadership as well."

There was a pause for a few minutes. A question finally came to Olimar's mind, and he asked, "So what do orange Pikmin do? What's your ability?"

The orange Pikmin sighed, "We're… Ambassadors."

"What? I didn't know you guys had ambassadors!"

"Yeah, we're kind of easily forgotten since there are like… seven of us left alive."

"So why don't they ever send you guys out to do anything? To try to negotiate some sort of peace?"

"Well historically leadership has never taken us seriously. Many years ago an green Pikmin felt we'd be more useful if ordered off a cliff, so that's just what he did. Luckily, a few of us weren't there to receive that order which is why there are still a few left."

"… Oh… Well… that was years again. Have you tried asking for a chance to actually do something now?"

"See, the problem with that is that green that ordered us off that cliff is the Nectarian. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he's sending me out here with you to the frontlines… He's probably counting on the enemy taking me off his hands for him."

Olimar just stared at the Pikmin with his mouth open. The Pikmin looked back at him, and then burst out laughing. The captain watched the Pikmin roll on the ground when he finally said, "Wait… That's not your real ability at all is it."

The Pikmin pulled himself together, and struggled to put on a straight face, "Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Seriously, do you honestly think _talking_ is some sort of super ability or something? But the look on your face when I told you that this was a suicide mission… that was priceless."

"Ok, now that you've had your fun, mind telling me what your power actually is?", Olimar said, a bit annoyed that the Pikmin was having such fun out of fooling a complete newcomer to the world.

"It's actually not that interesting, or useful. It's the main reason there aren't that many orange Pikmin around. And yes, that part about there only being about seven of us was actually accurate."

"Well? What is it? I'm just curious at this point."

"If you're lucky you might see it, but it's really pretty minor."

"Well at least tell me your name."

"Onrac, nice to meet you…?"

"Olimar."

Onrac nodded, "Glad I'm not the only one with a stupid name."

Olimar laughed.

* * *

Manat came to a halt in front of a massive complex machine, which seemed to be built into the wall of the cavern. There was a stone slab sitting by it with strange markings. _"Language of the Creators… once again indecipherable."_ The arachnorb thought to himself. Inside the machine was a light blue pad.

The Antenna Beetle landed behind him, trying to catch his breath. "Most creatures stop when they see a messenger approach. You're the first one I've seen run away and I didn't even have any bad news."

"I thought you could keep up." Manat observed, focusing his attention on the machine.

"Yeah well that was still quite a delay. I had no idea you could move so fast. Acbon just wanted me to tell you to get back to the base so that when the reinforcements arrive we could be prepared to move forward. Of course, that was about an hour or so ago, I lost track of time chasing you down." Manat nodded, still focused on the contraption. The Antenna Beetle noticed the distraction and asked, "What is that thing?"

"I was the final project the Creators had been working on. They were trying to combine the strength of nature and machine into a single being, but were driven off before they were finished, leaving me in a sleep mode. Of course, some years after the war had started I was discovered and the Bulborbs woke me and brought me up to speed on all the things that happened in the world."

"I was really wondering-"

"Ever since that day, I never cared much for the cause. I would defend my friends when I could but my true calling has always been towards finding a way to finish what the Creators started on me. Luckily, they left some of their technology behind, and thanks to the Outsider diversion I was finally able to reach the machine rumored to be here..." Manat lowered a camera from the bottom of his body, and with a blue light scanned and recorded what the inscription in stone read. He continued speaking, "Hopefully it is indeed an upgrade… And if what I hear is true there could be more of them hidden throughout the world. Perhaps their final creation will be finished yet." The scanner finished and rose back into the arachnorb, who asked, "Does the Outsider speak many languages?"

"I don't really know I-"

"Of course, I should not expect others to have thought of asking something like that. You want something to send back to Acbon? Let him know I'll be making my way back as soon as I'm done here and have fully rested."

"Fine." said the Antenna Beetle, expecting to be interrupted if he spoke any more words. He turned and jumped into the darkness.

* * *

"And here we are!" Ornac proudly announced. He and Olimar had just landed at the main camp, which was on the rocky side of the enormous mountain. Various onions were flying through the sky, dropping off Pikmin and supplies. Large groups of Pikmin were constructing walls as well as organizing the bomb rocks and other supplies arriving.

The orange Pikmin noticed a red Pikmin with a leaf run by, and yelled after him, "Hey! Get over here!" The red one stopped, turned around and faced the orange one at attention. Onrac pointed his hand at the ground and a large glob of nectar shot out. "Any other leaves get over here and drink up!" He ordered while firing more nectar along the ground.

"Well, your ability seems pretty useful." Olimar said as Pikmin swarmed from all directions and gained flowers.

"Nah, we already have a surplus of nectar and anything else I can make, this is just a bit faster. And besides being able to create this sort of thing there's no other powers that I have." Onrac explained.

A brown Pikmin with an extra pair of arms and a cyan flower ran up shouting, "What do you think you're doing giving them nectar?"

Onrac looked at him and pointed out, "Well, flowers also grant increased speed and strength which should becomes very useful in the coming battle."

"But they're not prepared for the promotion or the added responsibilities!"

"At the leaf level they're no better than mindless drones. At least here they can make some decisions for themselves in the middle of a fight and be useful."

"This is still against the standard operating procedure and- Oh right, you don't care about that. I guess you didn't take the hint of being sent down here as a way to encourage you to get your act together."

Onrac shrugged, "It's not like I'm needed here anyway. You've got plenty of nectar and stuff without me."

"Maybe the Nectarian wasn't specific when you told you to come here, since you'll be part of our first wave. Enjoy actually being part of a battle for a change." And with that the brown Pikmin walked away."

* * *

The Antenna Beetle landed by an Armored Cannon Beetle. "Acbon, I finally found Manat." The messenger called out.

"It doesn't matter anyway, the reinforcements still haven't arrived. We just wasted an entire day while the Pikmin no doubt built their forces up… and for what? Because some loony psychic said our forces are better sent elsewhere?"

"Don't dare refer to him that way." The Antenna Beetle snarled.

"You better not be threatening me. I have nothing for respect for his renowned petal reading abilities, but these sort of things are better left to delicate planning than wild guesses based on-"

"If it wasn't for him we would not have any ground here!"

"No, if it wasn't for Crawbster, Titan and Manat we wouldn't be here. Which reminds me, did Manat mention any time he was coming back up here?"

"He said in an hour or two he'd be back up here. For now I think he's resting after all that running he did… He's much faster than he looks."

"That's Manat for you. When he gets his batteries fully charged he's a force to be reckoned with. He once took down a green Pikmin in a one-on-one fight. That takes true skill." Acbon recalled.

"Huh."

"Excuse me, but such a feat should elicit more than just a 'huh'. But fine, if Bulblax won't send us reinforcements because his trusted advisor changed his mind then I'll just have to rely on Manat to get the job done. Yet again."

* * *

Elsewhere, another Antenna Beetle dropped by the Emperor, who was just beginning to doze off for the night. "Make it quick." Bulblax said.

"It's Puffstool sir… He says he's finally finished with his 'project'."

The Emperor's eyes shot open for a brief moment, and then returned back to their usual half open stare. "Well well, I wouldn't have though such a thing is possible… very impressive."

"Sir, he requests further orders."

"He's to wait until the most opportune moment… I don't it to be used unless we are guaranteed something of importance will be lost by the enemy."

--

A/N: I had originally thought for this one to be longer than this when I realized that I could get away with spreading the events over the course of more days. Sorry if this one feels a bit uneventful

Once again, reviews are more than welcome. I like to know what any readers think in regards to anything related to the story really. So yeah.


	6. Day 6: Manat

Day 6: Manat

"It's about time you got here."Acbon said, turning to the arachnorb that had just arrived.

"The upgrade took longer than predicted. What have I missed? Has there been any word from the other fronts?" Manat asked.

"Turns out we didn't get the reinforcements because Bulblax was convinced by that Antenna Beetle that all his forces should be sent North instead, to the spring area. I have no idea why he took his advice over mine, when I at least had a reason behind it beyond 'because I said so'," The cannon beetle paused, then asked, "So, how did that upgrade go? They actually left something behind to complete you?"

"If my predictions are correct, several stations actually. As for what the upgrade gave me… clarity."

"Clarity?"

"Correct."

"Feel like… Clarifying?" Acbon questioned, perplexed.

"Everything seems…" Manat searched for the right word, "… Simpler. There are more important matters. Are we going to stay behind and fight without the reinforcements?"

Acbon shook his head, "I was planning to, but that might mean you have to take on the entire Pikmin army on your own. Our forces are already small enough. Right now we're just trying to hold out a bit longer just in case the Emperor comes to his senses but if not we're better off retreating then getting killed here for nothing. As strong as you are, the Pikmin usually overkill in these situations and you'll be up against way more than you can handle."

"Where is the Outsider?"

"Olimar? He's probably dead as far as I know."

* * *

Olimar hid behind a boulder along with Onrac and a small squad of yellow Pikmin. He could hear the sound of the approaching Bulborb force from the other side of the boulder, and looked at the wall of rocks that stood between them and the rest of the Pikmin army. On their trip through the tunnel, a bombrock misfired and caused a cave-in, splitting the front group from the rest. Unfortunately, the Bulborbs must have heard the explosion and were on their way. To make matters worse, Olimar dropped his Ominrod on the other side of the wall of stones.

"What's the plan?" Olimar asked Onrac, who was frozen against the boulder.

"We hide." The orange Pikmin replied in a whisper, "When the Bulborbs don't see anything they'll turn around and we'll have all the time in the world to wait for the Pikmin on the other side to blast through the rest of the cave in."

"That's not… very clever at all."

"What do you mean? It's our best shot at survival, and our odds are better than by trying to hold off all of them with this small group."

Olimar glanced around the room, counting the yellow Pikmin. He explained, "While it might seem like the best option to hide behind the only object in the tunnel, it's also the most obvious thing for us to do. Of course their going to check behind here, and then we're dead. We have to come up with some way to stall for time. Twenty five." He finished counting the yellows, each clutching a bombrock. He turned his attention to the wall of rubble, searching for some opening or weak point.

"And that way would be…?"

The captain focused on some of the smaller stones that had fallen along the wall. A small grin appeared across his face. He turned to Onrac and asked, "How many rocks do you think we have?"

Onrac scratched his head, "You counted yourself, twenty five bomb rocks."

"No, not bomb rocks. How many rocks do we have?"

Onrac glanced at the rocks littering the ground and slowly began nodding.

* * *

A Bulbear led a large group of Bulborbs around a corner and he looked at the tunnel, now cut off by a recent cave in. "Did the explosion cause that?" A Bulborb asked.

"No, a Doodlebug just farted." A second one responded sarcastically.

"Quiet!" The Bulbear leader shouted, "There might be a few stragglers there. You two," he motioned to two of the Bulborbs, "Go check out behind that boulder."

The two Bulborbs nodded and ran in. A yellow Pikmin jumped up from behind the boulder and tossed a rock that landed nearby. "Bombrock!" they shouted, turn and ran around the corner again.

"Ah ha, so they managed to get some bombrocks with them as well. Not a problem. They've got to run out eventually. All we have to do is keep running up and back and…" The Bulbear trailed off.

"Something wrong?" A Bulborb asked.

"Odd… It should've exploded by now."

"Maybe it's a dud." The second Bulborb said.

"You're probably right, charge again, and let them waste another one."

The two Bulborbs nodded again, and dashed forward. Again, a yellow Pikmin jumped up and tossed another rock that landed in front of the Bulborbs. The two turned again, ran, and hid behind the corner.

They waited. Finally another Bulborb spoke up, "Maybe it's another dud?"

The Bulbear stared impatiently at the second rock, "Two in a row? What are the odds of…" He stopped and turned to the Bulborbs, "Go one more time." The pair ran forward for the third time, and again a Pikmin tossed a rock. "Keep going! It's bluffing they don't have any-"

Their leader was interrupted by an explosion. One of the Bulborbs had been hit by the bombrock and the blast sent him into a wall. The other one ran back. "What now?" One Bulborb asked.

"If we all charge at once some of us are bound to break through." Another one pointed out.

"No… the tunnel isn't wide enough. We'd be clumped together and made an easy target for the explosives. This method is our best bet." The Bulbear explained.

"So… How do we know when it's safe to go all the way to the end or if it's an actual bomb?"

The Bulbear sighed, "We don't."

* * *

Olimar had lost track of time as all his attention was focused on the amount of bombrocks left (fourteen at the moment). He didn't have any sort of pattern for tossing the bombrocks and regular stones, partly because by keeping it random he thought it would be easier to delay the Bulborbs longer.

There was a massive bang behind the Pikmin, who turned to see a hole in the previous pile of stones. A swarm of Pikmin broke through to the cheering of the stranded team. The Bulborbs, upon seeing that the enemy had finally broken through the cave-in, decided to turn and run away.

"After them!" commanded the brown Pikmin. The army of Pikmin shouted and swarmed ahead of Olimar and around the corner. The captain and the others followed after them when suddenly the shouting and the Pikmin stopped in their tracks. Ahead was what seemed to be a metallic orb with four legs (three which seemed to be animal but the fourth mechanical).

"Get ready to run," Onrac whispered to Olimar before turning around to try to find a clear and fast path away. The Hocotatian was focused on the creature as what appeared to be a gun lowered from the orb.

"Well? ATTACK!" The brown Pikmin shouted again. One of the yellow Pikmin near the front tossed a bomb rock, but it barely left his hands before the arachnorb shot it, detonating it and killing over a dozen Pikmin nearby.

"You have ten seconds to retreat before I begin attacking." The machine announced. The Pikmin looked nervously at each other, and then at their leader.

"Retreat!" yelled Onrac.

"What?" The brown Pikmin shouted at the orange one, "We can't do that, we have to win this battle!"

"We're not going to win if we have to beat Manat! You know he killed Thren!"

The other Pikmin opened his mouth to say something, looked around and then yelled, "He's got a point. Retreat!"

The Pikmin had hardly made any distance before the arachnorb said, "Ten seconds have passed." And opened fire, aiming specifically for any bombrock carrying yellows it could see. Olimar, however, was locked in place, watching Manat walk forward slowly as it chased the Pikmin to the Onions.

"Olimar! Hey wake up!" Onrac shouted as he shook him, "We have to get moving before…" The Pikmin stopped when he noticed the gun now pointed in their direction.

"Olimar? The Outsider?" Manat asked, pointing his weapon down.

"That's me."

"I didn't predict meeting you here. It seems there's still one of your captors here. Allow me to dispose of him." The machine aimed his gun at Onrac.

"No wait!" Shouted Olimar as he jumped in the way, "That won't be necessary."

"So you joined the Pikmin now? In that case…" The weapon pointed at Olimar now.

"Err, no. I'm not fighting for them."

The orange Pikmin looked at the captain confused and asked, "Just what do you mean by that?"

Olimar looked over his shoulder at Onrac and glanced nervously back to Manat. "Look, it's a bit complicated. Can I speak in private?"

The Pikmin shook his head, "No, I'm interested in hearing this one as well."

The Hocotatian sighed and then explained the situation to Manat, "See, I'm only here with them because they have my ship, so the only way I can get it back is to work with them whether I want to or not."

Manat responded, "That is understandable. There's a different reason I hoped to find you. Do you understand many languages?"

"Well I don't, my translator helps though. Why?"

Manat's gun rose back into his body and now a projector lowered. It lit up a wall with blue light, which depicted an alien writing. "Can you read this?" Manat asked.

Olimar shook his head and answered, "No, I'm afraid I can't. Where did you find that text."

"Disappointing," commented Manat as he turned off the projector. The arachnorb turned and began walking away as he continued speaking, "I found it in the ruins left by the creators. I have been trying to hunt them down for awhile now, hoping to find somehow to finish their work on me. As for you, the Bulborbs have begun their withdrawal so you are free to control this area once again if you want to."

"That's it?" Onrac asked, confused, "You're just going to walk away without putting up a fight?"

Manat stopped in his tracks, "That is, unless you want me to stay and fight. I wasn't planning to but if you insist."

"No, it's ok!" both the Pikmin and Olimar shouted.

The pair made their way back to the landing site, where Pikmin were running around preparing for a massive attack. When the two emerged from the cave, everybody stopped what they were doing to look. The brown Pikmin ran forward.

"How did you get here? How did you survive? Where's Manat? How much time do we have to prepare?" He asked, shocked to see the two still standing.

Olimar began, "Well it turns out—"

Onrac interrupted, "It just took one look at Olimar to scare Manat out of his mind and send them packing home! We won, we're free to take control of the caves and bomb rock supply!"

The workers looked around, some in silence and some muttering to each other. The leader turned to Olimar and asked, "Are they really retreating?"

Olimar nodded, "Yes they are."

The brown Pikmin looked to the crowd and shouted, "Victory!" The others cheered, and the brown Pikmin motioned for them to quiet down. "We still have a lot of work to do in reclaiming this area. We have to rebuild all the walls that were torn down, and while we're at it we need to bring a hefty supply of bombrocks back home. So let's get to work!" He commanded.

* * *

An Antenna Beetle dropped into Bulblax's chamber. The Emperor stopped his conversation with Monshume and turned to the messenger. "I have three messages for you." The beetle said.

"Well get to it then," replied the Emperor.

"First, Acbon wants you to know that thanks to you going back on your word to send reinforcements that you have lost the Volatile Volcano and that he is withdrawing to prevent any senseless losses on our side."

"That's fine. Next?"

"Second, Acbon also requests that you stop taking…" The Antenna Beetle paused, and then continued trying to quote the exact words, "That you stop taking the fortune teller so seriously and begin listening to his reasoning and experience instead."

Bulblax looked at Monshume who was snickering, and then turned back to the messenger. "And the last one?" he asked.

"It's a message from Manat. He reports that he will not be retuning with the rest of the force at the volcano and will instead be trying to find more ruins left behind by the Creators. He apologizes for any inconvenience."

The Emperor sighed, "Not again…", and then continued to the messenger, "If you happen to find him could you let him know things would be a lot easier for us if our best fighter wasn't constantly getting side tracked by these explorations and would actually help the greater good from time to time?"

"Of course." The messenger replied, before leaping out of the room.

* * *

Olimar watched as the last few groups of Pikmin carrying bombrocks returned to the onions, with much attention paid to a particularly massive bombrock with several bulky purple Pikmin carrying it. He suddenly noticed an odd sound coming from the Pikmin and asked, "Wait a second… Is that singing?"

"Yeah, why? Is that weird?" Onrac responded.

"I just never figured Pikmin were quite merry enough to sing at times like this," Olimar explained.

"Well, what else do you expect us to do to keep us entertained through all this boring labor? Don't you sing or something while you work?" Onrac asked.

"Sure, I just don't sing. Partly because my ship insists I don't have a good singing voice."

"Well what do you do?"

"I whistle."

"Whistle?"

"Yeah, you don't whistle? Let me show you." Olimar stopped and whistled a single high pitch note. All the Pikmin surrounding him stopped what they were doing and stared at him. The captain looked around nervously and said, "Stop looking at me and get back to work". Immediately all the Pikmin around him did just that.

Onrac still stared at Olimar with awe. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what? Whistle?"

"No, the thing after that! I heard you say 'stop looking at me and get back to work'."

"That's exactly what I said."

"No, I mean, I heard you in my head say that, like it was a thought." Onrac continued to stare at Olimar, hoping for some sort of explanation when suddenly he exclaimed, "Oh, wait, I get it! Rebitar and those other Antenna Beetles! They taught you a few things!"

"What? No they didn't. They just told me about their crazy mystic prophecies and let me be."

"Sure they did. To think this whole time I actually thought you didn't believe what they had to say."

"But I don't!" Olimar insisted.

The two continued their arguing on their way to the Onions as nightfall approached.

--

A/N: So yeah, sorry about the massive delay and not having very much to show for it. I am still determined to try to wrap this thing up by the end of the summer though, and I think I can so long as I get into gear.

One thing I have been considering is instead of insisting on each chapter = a day, that I could split some days in half and such. It would mean I would update quicker, but at the same time with smaller chunks. Additionally, it would also mean I won't have the elegant day by day chapter system going on either, which would be unfortunate.

So yeah, your thoughts on that and anything else concerning the story are welcome.


	7. Day 7: Wild

Day 7: Wild

"Olimar, can I ask you a question?"

The captain had been staring absentmindedly at the small mountain of bombrocks that filled most of the onion. He looked back to the orange Pikmin and said, "I thought I was the one who had all the questions, but go ahead."

Onrac began, "Well, back at the battle, when Manat appeared…"

"Yes?"

"You just… Well you just stood there when everybody else was running. Why didn't you run? Were you thinking you could win? Too scared to move? Hoping to stall him? Or…"

Olimar turned back to the bombrock pile and shrugged. "I can't really explain it." He paused for a moment to think, then continued, "I just had this feeling that running was pointless."

"So you decided to just give in?"

"More like I thought that everything would just turn out fine in the end."

Onrac shook his head, "No, what you did back there was downright suicidal. I assume the only reason you thought you might be okay is that you hadn't heard of Manat's reputation."

"If you thought that, why did you ask me? What do you think I know about it?"

The orange one sighed, then continued, "Manat is an invincible, unstoppable fighter. The only reason I think the Pikmin have survived against the Bulborbs with him on their side is that the Bulborbs don't seem to be able to control him very well either. He shows up in a battle every now and then, usually followed by him wandering around aimlessly while killing anything that gets in his path."

"You haven't tried just overwhelming him with a mass of Pikmin instead?"

Onrac shook his head again, "I think everybody gave up hope of beating him any time soon after he killed Thren in battle."

"Who was he?"

"Thren was… our champion. The greatest fighter any of any Pikmin as far back as we know. We all knew he was destined for greatness… but then, in one battle the Bulborbs revealed their weapon. Thren stood and fought like he always did, but in the end Manat won with only a single scratch."

"He can't be that bad if he let us live." Olimar pointed out.

"But that's why I'm so confused right now. Because when he let us live, you didn't seem surprised at all. It was as if you were expecting it."

"Well, throughout my travels, and my life in general, I've found myself in some pretty nasty situations and it seemed like I was doomed to fail. But somehow, in the end every time something saw me through to the end in once piece and I didn't have to worry about it. I've learned that when the odds seem to be stacked against me I should put my life in fate's hands instead of trying to escape the problem."

"Fate? I thought you said you didn't believe in that stuff." The orange Pikmin said.

"No, I never said that. I said I don't think anybody can see the future. There's a difference between the two."

Onrac felt the Onion slow down in its flight. "We're back." He observed. He suddenly remembered something and reached for something at his side. He turned and handed the Ominrod back to Olimar. "You dropped this in the battle, you probably wouldn't want to leave it behind."

Olimar took the rod and replied, "I almost forgot it myself. Thanks."

* * *

Emperor Bulblax awoke in his main chamber to the sounds of a hushed argument. He focused his eyes past the various treasures and relics he kept and noticed a tall Feathery Bulborb arguing with what appeared to be some sort of Antenna Beetle. What set it apart from the others he had seen before was is taller, blue body with long arms and folded translucent wings on its back. "What's going on?" He asked as he walked toward them.

"Great, now he's awake." The beetle said, angry at the other Bulborb.

"Keab? An explanation?" The green grub-dog asked.

The feathered one looked at his leader and answered, "Turns out there was an Antenna Mantis hiding in our ranks. We're lucky we found out now." He gestured toward the blue beetle.

"What? Who…"

"Monshume."

The Emperor looked at the beetle, who then asked angrily, "I don't understand. Why can't I fight? Rebitar insists that we only help nudge you all along but I want to take action…"

Keab interrupted, "Do you realize how dangerous that is for us? Rebitar offers us his wisdom, yes, and the Antenna Beetles as fast messengers. But he was very clear on his only condition: that if we let any single member of his clan die in battle he would leave us immediately."

"You don't have to worry about me, I can survive on my own. I'm capable of helping the cause and…"

Bulblax interrupted this time, "So this is why you always seem to be in the right place at the right time… And why I hadn't heard much of you until recently. But I have to ask what you hope to accomplish disguised as merely a Spotty Bulborb."

Monshume's antennae bounced as he shook his head, "What did you expect me to disguise myself as? A Cannon Beetle? A Snagret? I know you all keep careful track of their numbers and a new one appearing suddenly would stand out. But I knew the only way I could actually be on the field and changing things would be if I was in disguise." He turned to Keab and continued, "You don't have to tell Rebitar either. I can still stay as a Bulborb and things will be fine. Trust me."

The tall Bulborb snickered, "Your plan is to keep a secret from Rebitar of all people? Have you lost it?"

"It worked this long didn't it? Besides, there's a reason you all don't know my real name. So long as he doesn't try focusing on your minds about this specific event he'll never know, and even if he somehow does he won't know who exactly I am."

"Oh, and I suppose the messenger is just going to forget to mention how your disguise fell apart in front of him."

The Emperor spoke up before the beetle could reply, "Messenger?"

Monshume looked at the Feathery Bulborb, who answered, "Yes. As you know, an Antenna Mantis can change his appearance with an illusion…"

"It's not merely an illusion, it's a complete shifting of my body to perfectly mimic another." The mantis interrupted, turning back to the Emperor, "But if there's enough mental stress it will slip and I'll end up reverting to my normal form."

"Bad news I take it?" Bulblax asked.

"It's not bad, not terribly good either…" Keab responded. He and Monshume began to appear troubled as their attention was brought back to the message they had just received. He continued, "It was news from the Northern front. They found… something…"

"What? One of those items Olimar is looking for?"

"No. The Pikmin that were supposed to be up there… Well, they're all dead now. There are thousands of bodies scattered around the region along with about seventy Onions of theirs destroyed. Some sort of massacre happened there."

Bulblax looked at the two of them. "I don't quite understand. What's so troubling?" He asked.

The blue one answered, "The problem is that there's some other force out there that we don't seem to have accounted for, and whatever it is it's very powerful."

"But it can't be too bad whatever it is. It killed all the Pikmin there afterall." Bulblax replied.

"We don't know that."

"Look, either way that area is ours to claim. The enemy isn't there and whatever caused it has moved on, yes? So maybe Rebitar anticipated this, because we've also gone into the area with a very powerful force as he advised. If whatever caused it tries to come for us, we'll be ready." Bulblax pointed out.

* * *

"So… I've heard some very interesting stories"

"Really Virax? What have you heard?" The Nectarian responded, seated in his chamber.

The red-budded Pikmin looked out the window watched the sun as it slowly began its descent in the sky. He continued, "I heard that Manat was at the Volatile Volcano battle."

"You heard correctly."

"I _also_ heard that a certain outsider stood his ground against him… and scared that thing away."

"Correct."

The green Pikmin turned to face his leader. "So once again Manat is at the very battle you tell me to avoid."

"Yes, well that's not a coincidence."

"Why?"

"You know why," the golden Pikmin responded, "We both know that the only reason you even stuck around here for the battle wasn't because you wanted to be the first one to meet Olimar. It's because you were waiting for Manat to show up." The green Pikmin nodded. The Nectarian continued, "I'm not going to let that thing kill you too."

"So you're just going to let it live and continue its rampage?" Virax asked, turning back to the window.

The Nectarian sighed, "Look, I know you're after revenge. I know you're still angry and I am too. But I'm not going to be a fool and lose another friend. You need to let the past be and leave it behind, because nothing we do now is going to bring him back."

"We could've saved him. If we had acted, we could have…"

His leader interrupted him, "We did what we had to do. We had orders to move back while he kept them busy."

"We could've disobeyed the orders."

"Then Thren wouldn't have been the only one who died that day."

The two remained silent for a few minutes. Finally Virax spoke up once again, "Look, I know you think the only reason that I care about destroying Manat is for some personal vengeance. And ok, sure, maybe that does have a little to do with it. But the main reason is that like it or not, one day we're going to have to stop running and hiding whenever he shows up in a battle. One day somebody will have to stand their ground again and fight him, and win. And after hearing what happened and how Manat was fought off by Olimar, I think my chances are pretty good right now. I beat Olimar handily, so I should be able to stand up to Manat. So like it or not, I'm our best shot."

There was another pause as the Nectarian nodded slowly. "From what Onrac reported, Manat said something about needing more upgrades from ruins left behind by the creators. Now, we didn't know about the one in the volcano, but we do know the closest one to that area…" he began.

"The Wistful Wild" The green one finished.

"Correct. The way I see it, you might still have time to make it there and cut him off, hopefully before he finds whatever upgrade he's looking for and becomes an even bigger threat. I just ask that you wait for Martel before…"

"No. He's not experienced enough yet and he's not even back yet from his assignment. If he makes it back maybe you can send him after me as reinforcements, but I doubt the fight will last that long."

The golden Pikmin nodded again and concluded, "We just finished emptying out some of the Onions of their bombrock cargo, so you're free to pick any one of them on your way down there."

Virax turned to walk out and stopped at the door. He turned and asked, "Why are you suddenly helping me on this?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, you might have a point in fighting him now, and maybe you really can pull off what Thren failed to do all that time ago. And besides," The Nectarian grinned, "I figure that even if I refused to let you go you'd go ahead and fight him anyway, and probably in much less favorable conditions."

* * *

Olimar's computer buzzed, "I think you're being a little impatient with my scanning. I told you this would not be quick."

"Have you made any progress?" The captain asked.

"If you mean have I found anything, no. But I'm still searching. My turn to ask a question."

"You have a question? That's a first."

"Well, I'm just wondering what the Omega Stabilizer and your seat have that I don't."

"I thought I went over this. The Pikmin wouldn't let me pick which two pieces I wanted to put on my ship, and they just picked at random. Besides, at least I can sleep on my seat because I can't say the same about you. But that does remind me. Do you think we can make another suit modification?"

"What now? Think you need a bazooka as well?" The analog computer asked.

"No, a whistling modification." Olimar replied.

"Whistling."

"Yes."

"I'm so happy you have your priorities straight."

"If we ever make it back home I'm getting you a personality change."

"If? You sound confident."

"Shut up and let me explain why I want this."

"Ok fine. Explain away."

Olimar recalled back to the previous day, "For some reason, whistling seems to have a brainwashing effect on the Pikmin. There's something about that specific high pitch frequency that allows one to command them as if he were actually a member of their chain of command. So in other words, they have to follow through with your orders without question, even if you tell them to, say, jump off a cliff or attack against overwhelming odds."

"I'm sorry to be skeptical, but that does sound useless since you already know how to whistle."

Olimar continued, "Well, I only did it once and it was on the ones on the bottom of the chain. In fact, the one that was higher said that while he heard the command he could still ignore it. I'm hoping that with a device that I can alter the frequency, intensity, wavelengths and all that stuff precisely, I can maybe begin to command the higher ups, and maybe even the whole army."

"And with the entire species under your control, you can force them to finish repairing the Dolphin and we can get off this rock."

Olimar nodded, "Exactly."

"This does sound very good if we can get it off the ground. I take it you want to cannibalize your Massage Machine for this?"

"Unfortunately it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice. And I suppose we might find some use for the leftovers of the UV Lamp."

Suddenly a voice came from the doorway to the cargo room and asked, "Olimar?"

The captain spun around and noticed an orange Pikmin, "What?" Olimar asked the Pikmin. The Pikmin stared at him confused and Olimar realized he had turned off his translator to communicate with his computer. He turned it back on and asked again, "What?"

"Who were you talking to?" Onrac asked.

"Oh, my computer."

"Computer?"

"It's like a machine… So kind of like Manat I guess. Anyway, what do you want?"

Onrac recalled what he came in to ask, and continued, "So hey, it seems like there's been a lot of commotion concerning some sort of fight or something that's going down. I really didn't catch what it was about but the point is the Onion is now a lot more empty so I can sneak away with an Onion and make it to Giant's kitchen."

"Your question?"

"You want to come along?"

Olimar blinked, "No, it's fine. I'm a bit busy at the moment with something really important" he said as he pointed to his computer which was now showing the blueprints and instructions for his latest gadget.

"Ok that's fine. Want me to bring you back anything or…?"

"Yeah sure. I think he said something about wanting me to visit sometime because he had a lot of food for me to try, and I could use something other than Space Noodles for a change."

"Sure thing, Giant would be fine with that." The Pikmin turned to leave.

"Hey, I was wondering something…" The captain began, causing the orange Pikmin to stop and look at Olimar again.

"Yes?"

"I couldn't help but noticed you spun the actual account of what happened with Manat when you were reporting it to the others. Why? Was it because they'd kill me if they heard what I really said or…"

"Oh that? I just wanted them to take you seriously for a change."

"Huh? Take me seriously? But I thought I was already a big deal what with being the Outsider and…"

Onrac interrupted again, "No, the only one who thought you were capable of being much of a useful force was Martel. The Nectarian and Virax didn't think you were capable of much, after all they did pair you up with me of all people. Now that they know that you're enough of a force to make Manat think twice about fighting you, they're actually going to try to get on your good side and get your full support."

"Which is why they listened when I asked if I could start putting together my ship?"

"Exactly. Now you can barter with them over your terms of service and they'll actually have to listen for a change."

"Well… Gee thanks." Olimar said, somewhat surprised to find some other creature that actually cared about whether he got off the planet in one piece.

"Don't mention it." Onrac replied as he walked out. He stopped just outside the door and shouted back in, "No seriously, don't mention it. If they find out I lied and that Manat just spared us because he didn't want to waste the ammunition, I'll be in a world of hurt."

* * *

Virax marched through the autumn forest of the southern Wistful Wild, followed by a large troop of Pikmin of all colors, each at least a white flower or above. News travels fast through the Omega Onion, and when the word got out that a Pikmin was going to fight Manat and take him out, the Pikmin rushed to make it on Virax's onion before it left the dock. They were all eager to have the unique privilege to say they had been there in person on the night the monster fell. The green Pikmin looked to the sky, and noticed that the sun was beginning to set in the sky, casting a fiery glow in the sky. He looked back behind him and estimated the audience was some two hundred Pikmin large, if not more.

After trekking along the dusty path for several minutes, it led to a large clearing where the brown and red leaves covered the ground. In the distance, the group could make out the cave opening that led to the ruins that Manat would be after. Slowly their attention drifted into what was waiting for them in the clearing: a giant walking mushroom. All but the red-budded leader stopped in their tracks. The green Pikmin walked forward and recognized the creature. "Puffstool!" he shouted at it.

The mushroom's eyes opened and focused on Virax. "I was almost afraid that you weren't going to show up in time."

"You can get out of my way peacefully or I can kill you. I can't waste time chatting with you."

"What's the big rush? It's not like Manat is going to show up here." Puffstool asked innocently. The Pikmin began muttering amongst themselves. The mushroom continued, "See, I had a bet with Manat that some fellows might want to try to cut him off here today, and that he could check out some other ruins in the mean time or just spend time relaxing for a bit."

Virax scoffed, "Am I to believe this is supposed to be some sort of trap?"

The mushroom giggled, "No, don't be silly, this is just supposed to b a nice reunion." The green Pikmin heard a noise coming from the trees behind Puffstool, who then gladly stood out of the way so they could get a better look. More murmurs and gasps arose from the crowd as Virax rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing. Puffstool chuckled at their shock and continued on, "You know, a nice reunion between old friends. Like the good old days. Isn't that right?" He asked, turning around to watch what had captured the attention of the others.

A pale green Pikmin walked into the clearing. On his stem a faded yellow bud had opened, now with a mushroom as its center and his pupils were gone, leaving his eyes as pools of white. The new arrival focused his attention on Virax and snarled, "Hello… partner".

"What the hell did you do to him?" Virax shouted at Puffstool.

"What did I do? What did _you_ do to him?" Puffstool asked back, again innocently, "Why, the stories he's told about the things his so-called friends did… Did you really abandon him to die like that? And you're blaming me for this? But, this is rude of me. You two have _so_ much to catch up on! I'll give you some alone time." The mushroom said as he calmly walked out of the clearing.

The red-budded Pikmin turned to follow but his attention was brought back by the pale one stomping his foot on the ground loudly. Virax yelled at him, "Thren, I don't know what they did to you but you're a green Pikmin. The spores might be able to mess with your head but they can't force you to do anything. We have free will for this very reason! You can break free of any control…"

"I don't need to break free of anything!" roared Thren, who then continued, "Though I might not mind breaking some Pikmin I knew. You can help me with that. Where's Yellam these days? I must pay him a visit soon as well."

"He's Nectarian now."

"Him? Seriously? What about you?"

"I wanted to stay in the field. I wanted to fight like…"

"Remember back when everybody would always say I was the greatest Pikmin that ever lived? The strongest fighter? The best leader? That I was destined to be Nectarian and lead us through the war?"

Virax nodded in silence.

"What happened to those days? It seemed I went from being the champion to being the first on the list to die. Was it jealousy that convinced you to leave me behind? You thought you could take my destiny of leading the Pikmin? My future of destroying the enemy?" The shroomed Pikmin asked, walking slowly toward the green one.

"It wasn't like that at all and you know it."

"Enlighten me."

"You saw a powerful enemy that threatened to wipe out over half the Pikmin in the battle, and you decided to sacrifice yourself to keep it busy, saving thousands of others in the process."

The pale one forced a laugh, "Oh that is so much different than what I saw. What I saw was a soldier doing what he knew best: fighting the enemy no matter how strong. But instead of having his allies back him up, when they saw the battle might be uphill they ran like cowards and let their so called 'hero' die in their place." He stopped walking, standing next to the red-budded Pikmin.

"We had orders to retreat without you. That's what happens in war. It's not nice, but sacrifices have to be made." Virax explained.

"That's a damn lie and you know it! Nobody asked me if I wanted to be a sacrifice and take one for the team. I didn't even think I was going to die that day, so long as I had my friends to back me up. Had just one of you stayed behind, just one Pikmin, we could've won that fight against Manat, and then the battle and probably the war. But of all the Pikmin there, not a one would stay behind or question the command. And don't _ you _hide behind your 'orders'. Like you just said: you were both green, and if you wanted to act and help me you could have. You chose to leave me behind and now you can't even admit your responsibility for it!"

"We were scared! Is that what you want to hear? We weren't nearly as brave as you and we couldn't stand and face death like you. But that was then. I came here to do what I should've done then. I came here to destroy Manat once and for all."

"I didn't come here to hear what I already know! I came here to teach you what I have learned since then!" Virax stared at him, confused by what he meant. Thren walked forward, this time towards the crowd of Pikmin. "So," He began yelling to group, "You can see your enemy standing here in front of you, and as you can tell it might be quite a difficult fight for your leader to win. Who here wants to step forward and help him?"

The crowd was silent.

The pale Pikmin shouted again, "I see you all have at least white flowers on your head. You don't need to be ordered to attack, you can decide to do that on your own! So once again, who will help Virax here fight me? One Pikmin could make the difference between victory and defeat, life and death for him! Anybody?" he took another step towards the crowd, who responded by backing away. He turned back to Virax and continued, "Look at them, so scared for their own lives that they forget that if you die they're next on the list. Would you want to sacrifice yourself to save them?"

"They're not scared," responded Virax as he opened his over the ground, spreading glittering dust on the soil, "They just don't want to kill you."

"Why not? They don't believe I'm an enemy? I have a mushroom on my head! What more do they expect of an enemy? What…" Thren trailed off, noticing the newly sprouted flower on the ground by Virax. He grinned and nodded, "I see you're in a rush to get started already. I can get behind that." He closed his eyes, and suddenly sharp thorns grew out of his skin, covering his body with spikes. "Let's get started."

In the sky the sun finished setting just as the full moon rose, illuminating the field.

--

A/N: So yeah, I was originally going to make this chapter longer but I'm getting a bit tired and figured I could get away with splitting it at this point. I wanted to post the next chapter before I fell asleep tonight because I was tired of stalling and then I realized it's past five AM and I figured I had enough written out to be considered a fair chapter I suppose. I've decided I'd rather update consistently even if it meant shorter chapters than taking long delays with bigger chapters. In this specific case I kind of weaseled out with a loophole since technically it's the end of day whenever the sun goes down.

So umm yeah. Reviews would be nice so I know I haven't completely lost everybody.


	8. Day 7: Night

Day 7: Night

The golden pikmin stood at the onion docking bay and watched as a lone purple onion latched on to a bridge. The side of the craft slid open and a green pikmin with a blue bud walked out. "It's about time you came back, I was getting worried" said the gold pikmin.

"About me? Why?" asked Martel. The two began walking through the passages of the massive onion with no destination in mind.

"We haven't received any word from your area in a little over a day by now. What was going on?"

"Nothing really. Whole Northern area was pretty uneventful."

"Did anything happen at all? Some small skirmish?" the Nectarian asked.

There was a pause. The pair turned left into another hallway and continued walking. Martel spoke again, "Well, I got a lot of time to reflect on recent events. But other than that no sign of the enemy".

This troubled the Nectarian, who decided to ask again, "Look, if there was some battle you lost and they took some territory, please let me know now so I don't have to find out later".

"Stop treating me like I'm incompetent. I know what I saw. Nothing happened."

Another turn, and the pikmin went to the right this time. The leader spoke again, "Well, it's just it doesn't add up. The bulborbs should have attacked somewhere, but Virax said that nothing happened in the region he was patrolling."

"Well maybe he's the one who wasn't paying attention."

"No, I'm pretty sure he would have bragged about any fights that happened."

"Assuming he didn't lose them," the green pikmin pointed out.

"Even still," The Nectarian said, "I know he wouldn't lie about something important. No, for some reason the bulborbs attacked nothing even though they had the perfect opportunity. We had no bombrocks but they made no offensive move. It just doesn't add up."

"There's also the possibility that they're just stupid animals" Martel pointed out. "In fact, I think that's probably our best bet". The two continued straight at the next turn. The green pikmin decided to change the subject, "So, what have I missed? Anything big?"

"Actually, there was a bit of news I think you'd enjoy about Olimar".

"What did he do?"

"He ran into Manat while he was at the volcano. They had a brief encounter which ended with Manat running for his dear life."

Martel nodded, "I told you that Olimar would fix things up pretty fast. Are we going to have him follow Manat and finish him off?"

"No, Virax insisted on having that privilege. He left about an hour ago."

"And you just let him go on his own?" Martel asked, surprised. "Not even take Olimar for backup?"

"Some other pikmin left with him, so I think he should be fine if he needs the help." The two pikmin walked into the central room of the onion: a giant space with the floor covered in dirt and with hallways and staircases connecting it to every other section of the onion. This was where pikmin seeds were planted, and currently the ground was empty of sprouts. The leader continued, "For now though, I'm going to get some rest. I suggest you do the same."

* * *

"You call this fighting!?" Thren shouted at Virax while firing a stream of needles at his opponent's shield. "Stop holding back and actually try to hit me!"

"You said you had something you wanted to teach me," the budded pikmin called back.

"It's hard to teach if you're hiding."

"It's hard to learn if I'm dead."

The mushroom pikmin sighed and stopped shooting. "Look, you can't hope to defeat Manat if you can't defeat me."

Virax lowered his shield slightly and stared at Thren, "Wait, you're trying to train me? That's all this is about?"

"In a way."

"In a way!?"

"Look, there's two ways this night ends. The first way is you keep holding back, and I kill you and maybe everybody else here. The second way is for you to actually fight and kill me instead."

"That's not exactly a fair choice."

"It seems pretty simple to me."

"I can't just kill you after discovering that you somehow survived."

"No, you just can't kill me because I'm a pikmin."

The green pikmin lowered his shield completely and asked, "What?"

The pale pikmin explained, "This is what I was hoping to fix. This is the same thing that held me back from growing. You're still loyal to the rest of the hive. But what you have to understand is that you don't need them anymore. We climbed through the ranks and we finally broke free of their orders. It's time to take advantage of that and leave them all."

"That mushroom has really done a number on your head."

"Damn it, just ignore the mushroom and listen! Don't make the same mistakes I did! Don't sacrifice yourself for them when they've never done anything for you. We're stronger than them and there's no reason to obey them anymore. You're still acting out of some sense of loyalty that's only going to hinder you and in the end kill you."

"Leave and then what? Wander around aimlessly?"

"It's better than the alternative."

Virax stood up and tossed away his shield. "I'm a pikmin," he said calmly, "A pikmin fights for the survival of his onion, not just himself. We live and die so that others can live. Other pikmin will fight for me just the same."

"Only for as long as you're useful enough to them."

"Then I'll just stay useful. If all you wanted was to chat about this, I don't see why violence had to enter into it at all. I decline your invitation to abandon my purpose in life and if you excuse me I'll be on my way." Virax began walking away from Thren and back to the crowd. The mushroomed pikmin raised his arm at Virax and cleared his throat.

"If you were listening, you'd understand it's not that simple," he said, "Puffstool is going to expect a dead green pikmin at the end of tonight, so one of us is not leaving here."

Virax turned back to face the pale pikmin, "What about all that stuff you were just saying about not obeying others?"

"Puffstool controls the mushroom on my head. If he wants to, he can order it to kill me. So unlike you, there are serious consequences if I ignore him."

"So? Just ignore anyway."

"For the 'greater good'? I'm not going to fall for that one again. So let's just decide who's going to die and get it over with."

"Well, there is a third option."

"Oh?"

Virax nodded and ordered the crowd to attack.

* * *

Olimar yawned. He had been working for the past few hours and was nearing completion, but his eyelids were growing heavy. He promised himself he would finish the last few steps in the morning and climbed into the Dolphin. He muttered something about how fortunate he was to have his comfortable seat installed as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Thren looked around the clearing, the ground now covered in fresh corpses of pikmin, and retracted his thorns. He noticed the distinct absence of any sign of his enemy and began laughing. "I don't quite see what's so funny," called out a voice from the woods. The pikmin turned and saw Puffstool.

"It seems I've failed, so I guess you'll be killing me now," the pikmin responded as he walked back towards the mushroom creature.

"Two things: first, that doesn't seem funny to me, and second I don't know where you got that idea."

"Well the whole reason I was here was to destroy a threat to the bulborb empire. I failed."

"Again, two things: first, the bulborbs don't execute people for making mistakes, and second the Emperor has yet to give you an assignment."

Thren stopped walking, and looked back to the clearing. "Then, just what was all that right there?" he asked.

"Closure."

"Closure?"

"I was there the day you fought Manat. I saw what happened then, not to mention the whole event seemed to have you preoccupied. I thought that by cutting him off here you could finally move past it, whether that meant killing him or just having a friendly chat."

"You're joking."

"What? I can't have your best interests in mind?"

"Seeing how not too long ago I would've killed you on sight, I'm having a hard time believing you would." Thren looked back at the clearing and felt his stomach grumble. "By the way," he said, turning back to Puffstool, "Are there any side effects of the spores that you haven't mentioned yet?"

"Quite a few actually."

"Care to explain why I find this…" he motioned towards to the carnage, "to be appetizing?"

"Well, the mushroom on your head prevents you from getting energy from the sun like normal, and long story short you're a carnivore now." Puffstool explained matter-of-factly.

"And you planned on telling me about this when?"

"Well, when it came up. Like now."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"If you're hungry? Eat. I hear from the bulborbs that pikmin taste delicious."

"I can't just eat another pikmin! We're the same species! That's just…"

"Weird?" Puffstool interrupted, "Look, if you don't eat there's a meal going to waste right now. Besides, I thought you were trying to prove to yourself you're beyond following the pikmin way of life? That you were free from them?"

"I didn't have this in mind."

"You're going to have to eat something some time. Better your enemies than your friends."

* * *

The Nectarian stared at Virax, looked out the window and then looked back again, still shocked. "All of them are dead?" he asked again for clarification.

"Yes."

"And here you are, without a single scratch on you."

"Correct."

"And it wasn't Manat but Puffstool that pulled this off?"

"Right."

"So what, did you decide to just send your whole army head first at him and forgot to watch out for spores? Or did you forget that green pikmin are immune to them?"

"Turns out that we aren't. Somehow Thren got infected by them."

"Oh good, you're delusional now as well."

"I know what I saw."

"Please, continue."

Virax explained everything that had happened that night. "In the end, I had a hard decision to make but sacrifices have to be made." he finished.

"Sacrifice? You essentially ordered them to commit suicide as a distraction."

"Don't be stupid…"

"Excuse me? Did you just call me stupid?"

Virax continued, ignoring the interruption of his leader, "If we kill Puffstool we can free him. We'll get the most powerful ally we've ever had back!"

"And this is worth two hundred lives to you?"

"If it means ending the bulborbs, yes."

"And you expect me to just shrug and look right past this then?"

"Well, maybe not shrug, but understanding why I acted would be nice."

"Oh I understand. I understand you've completely lost it and can't handle your position anymore," the golden pikmin said, barely controlling his anger.

"What?"

"Do you have any idea how much you've set us back this past week alone? How much progress we've lost because of your incompetence?"

"Incompetence!? I've been green before you were ever plucked!"

"Shut up! If it weren't for you, we would have reached Olimar first. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have almost killed him and ruined our first impression. If it weren't for you, two hundred pikmin would still be alive. Hell, for all I know the regions you were supposed to be watching were attacked and you forgot to mention it to me like all your other mistakes you brush aside or forget to mention."

"Calm down Yellam and just.."

"Don't ever call me that!" The Nectarian roared at Virax, "I don't care how long you've known me or what you might've done in the past. By the end of tomorrow we're changing your color."

"Over this!? After all I've done!?"

"Maybe if you can prove why you were ever considered useful in the first place you can regain your rank. Until then I think it's time you learned your place and realized that my judgments come before your own. Until then, get to thinking on what color you want to change back to."

* * *

Olimar woke up with a start. He thought he felt the ship rocking violently for a moment. Brushing it off, he decided it must have been some sort of dream and went back to sleep, only for another faint crash to startle him again. The captain sat up straight in his cockpit and looked around for the source of the noise. Another crash, this one even closer. He watched the walls of the onion carefully from his ship. One of them blasted wide open and the onion tilted. Parts of the Dolphin began sliding out of the now missing wall and falling down to the surface. Olimar noticed his ship was also on its way out of the onion and frantically began starting it.

In just a few seconds his ship was free falling along with the other pieces. The engine roared to life and Olimar guided the Dolphin through the falling debris and towards the ground. He looked up briefly to see if he could find the cause of the explosion. He saw what looked like a giant insect attached to a massive hot air balloon throwing bombrocks the size of bulborbs.

He landed the ship on the ground and jumped out to inspect his vessel for any possible damage. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw nothing but a few minor scratches. "Good thing I got the Omega Stabilizer installed or else I wouldn't have been able to land," he muttered to himself.

"Well hi Olimar! I didn't expect to see you so soon!"

Olimar jumped and spun around in surprise, and saw Giant standing there. The large breadbug continued, "I thought I just sent Onrac back to let you know about the situation."

"What situation? You mean the attack?"

"Why, he told me about your food shortage and I told him I had plenty to donate to the cause. Of course he couldn't carry it all back so I told him to just let you know to come down whenever you were ready to load up." The breadbug paused while the meaning of the second question sunk in, "Wait, what attack?"

"The main onion of the pikmin! It's under siege or something!"

"First I've heard of it."

"Look, I need to find the Emperor and ask him what's going on. He could've killed me." Olimar turned back to the Dolphin.

"Wait!" Giant shouted. Olimar turned again, "He's actually staying in a cave nearby right now. He likes shifting locations around to make it harder for the pikmin to track him. Here, I'll show you the way."

* * *

A/N: Ok, so sorry for the shortish update after such a long wait. I'm tired, it's early in the morning and at this point I'm having doubts I can finish this whole chapter in time. So instead, I figured this point was a better stopping point than anything immediately afterwards, and hopefully you'll all agree.

Main reason I'm in such a rush to post something is that I know if I don't post something tonight or soon after I won't be able to for about 3 months and I really just want to get this thing finished and off my plate because I feel like I have this whole thing planned out exactly and the only thing left to do is to actually do it.

But yeah, to think that I had originally planned to do Day 7 all in one single shot seems a bit absurd to me right now given that I still have a fourth or so of it to go. At this point I've pretty much given up on the whole one chapter = one day thing I had going initially mainly because the willpower required to work on chapters for so long kinda drives me insane. So I'm weak, whatever.

Anyhow I'll stop rambling now.


End file.
